The Oklahoma City Thunder introduced their four conscripts at a joint press conference over the weekend, and the basketball community learned quite a bit from availability.
Thunder executive vice president Sam Presti explained why the organization chose Chet Holmgren (No. 2 choice), Ousmane Dieng (11th choice), Jalen Williams (12th choice) and Jaylin Williams (34th choice). He also touched on the potential roster to suit each player, among other topics.
Some name confusion was also cleared up with Jalen and Jaylin.
Of course, the team made headlines in the NBA draft on Thursday after selecting two players of the same name. Their decision to draft them sparked a lot of conversations with fans go to social media to fire their best jokes.
Fear not, the two have a plan to set themselves apart.
“I think it’s pretty rare to have someone with the exact same name as you,” Jalen said. “It was a bit surreal. I go by ‘J-Dub’ and then (he) is ‘Jay Will’ so we’ve kind of figured that out since we got here.”
The two also seem to be having fun with the situation.
Said Jaylin on June 15: “It was funny because we had to do a lot of interviews (at the concept combination). Somehow, he and I always ended up in the same room at the same time, even though we could go to any interview whenever we wanted. We were always like, ‘Bro, go somewhere else!’”
On Saturday, Jalen and Jaylin snapped several team photos after their introductory press conference. They were even depicted mimicking the infamous Spider-Man meme, with the two characters pointing at each other.
As far as it fits on the field, the two each meet a number of needs.
Jalen, who was named to the All-WCC first team, last season as a junior in Santa Clara averaged 18 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.2 steals. He finished second in the conference in scoring and eighth in program history with 594 total points for the year.
Jaylin earned All-SEC second-team honors after averaging 10.9 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.1 blocks as a sophomore at Arkansas. He finished fifth in the country in total rebounds (364) and fourth in defensive win shares (3.0).
The Thunder figure has a lot of positional fights on the roster after their four new additions. Time will only tell how those turn out, but the team is certainly counting on them to play a key role as the team continues to rebuild.
Hopefully with as little confusion as possible about Jalen and Jaylin.
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire† follow us on facebook†
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