It only took their rookie season for the name jokes to get old for Oklahoma City Thunder rookies Jalen Williams and Jaylin Williams.
When the Thunder drafted both players in the 2022 NBA draft, jokes started to pop off on how fans and media will differentiate the two. In their rookie introductory presser last summer, Jalen Williams clarified that he’ll be called “J-Dub” while Jaylin Williams will be called “J-Will.”
OK; sounds easy enough — or one would think. During the Thunder’s two play-in tournament games, it was evident that the national broadcasts harped onto the name trope throughout the contests. It got to the point that even Thunder fans grew tired of the jokes.
Which begged the question — how did the players feel? Well, Jalen Williams left no doubt about the over usage of the low-hanging fruit in his exit interview, where he said was getting a little tired of the jokes too.
“I think we just haven’t been on TV enough, so we’ll probably work to change that,” Jalen Williams said, “but everybody when they hear it the first time, it ends up being the broadcast joke for the whole time.”
Williams even recently took to Twitter to further exclaim his tiredness of the name jokes that he’s probably heard a thousand times by now.
the fact there are still jokes about which Jalen/Jaylin is which is insane🫨 or how ppl still mess it up is absurd @Jay_MWilliams_
— therealjalenwilliams (@JdubPSCEO) April 26, 2023
Meanwhile, Jaylin Williams seems to still be a fan of the jokes, saying in his exit interview they still talk about it on a regular basis.
“Sometimes it’s funny. It’s fun,” Jaylin Williams said. “Me and Dub always joke about it and it’s fun being able to be the only one that can call him Jalen and he knows who’s talking.”
Hopefully, with the Thunder continuing to improve, the jokes will fade out as Jalen Williams and Jaylin Williams both become fixtures of nationally televised NBA games for the foreseeable future.
