Oklahoma City Thunder star Jalen Williams has already become a victim of the NBA’s 65-game rule for end-of-season awards and honors. Williams missed the first 19 games of the season as he recovered from offseason wrist surgery, and becoming ineligible means he will be missing out on a whole lot of money.
Williams signed a five-year, $241 million rookie max extension with the Thunder in the offseason, and that amount could have risen to $250- $289 million with an All-NBA selection. So, the 24-year-old has potentially missed out on $48 million, and Rachel Nichols asked him for his thoughts on it during a recent interview.
“I’ll make it back somewhere else,” Williams said. “So, I’m not too worried about it. But I mean, I think honestly, the way I was thinking about it was if I come back and I play hurt, right? Then I risk re-messing my hand up and kind of wasting a lot of the work that my team and our training staff, I put into the summer.
“So, if it wasn’t time for me to play, it wasn’t time for me to play,” Williams continued. “That’s more of like a God’s plan thing, and I’m just kind of rolling with it. I’ll never be salty over the money. We obviously will be able to use that elsewhere, which will be even nicer to keep our team together.
“I mean, I made a lot of money over the summer, too,” Williams added. “So, I’m never gonna be too greedy. Again, it’s one of those things where like coming from a small school, I never thought I would make the amount of money that I’m making now anyway. So, I’m not too concerned over it. The goal for me is about winning, before it is about money. I’ll play the sport for free.”
Nichols hilariously stated that Williams shouldn’t let Thunder GM Sam Presti hear that last line. She also pointed out that he could make up a little bit of what he has missed out on by winning the NBA Cup. Every player on the winning team will get $530,000 this year, so there’s a little bit of added motivation there for Williams, perhaps.
Williams, who made the All-NBA Third Team in 2024-25, has also put a nice little positive spin on his missing out on millions. There has been talk about how the Thunder will eventually have to part with some of their key role players, like Lu Dort and Isaiah Hartenstein, due to the NBA’s apron rules.
Not having to pay Williams about $50 million will make Presti’s life a bit easier in that regard. It’s funny how things can work out, and everything seems to be working out for the Thunder these days.
Despite Williams, who is now averaging 17.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game in 2025-26, missing all that time, the Thunder have a ridiculous 24-1 record. They have crushed the competition and, worryingly for the rest of the NBA, could be adding another franchise player to their ranks in 2026.
The Thunder own the 6-19 Los Angeles Clippers‘ first-round pick swap rights in 2026. If the Clippers don’t improve, OKC could potentially get a top-three pick, a scary thought. They could even use that pick in a trade to land another superstar, to make themselves all the more formidable. Presti could be spoilt for choice.
For now, though, the Thunder’s focus would be on this NBA Cup. They take on the San Antonio Spurs at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday at 9 PM ET in the semifinals. The Thunder lost in the final to the Milwaukee Bucks last time around, and you wouldn’t bet against them winning it all this year.
