Running away with the first seed and owning the best point differential, it shouldn't be a shocker to see the Oklahoma City Thunder well-represented at the 2025 All-Star weekend.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams were selected as All-Star players. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault and his staff also made the trip. Throw in Cason Wallace as a Rising Stars representative and plenty of folks from OKC have taken over San Francisco for three days.
While Gilgeous-Alexander is a veteran of this weekend, this is the first All-Star experience for Williams and the coaching staff. The 23-year-old was selected as an All-Star for the first time as OKC's second-best player. He's been a go-to scorer and provides lockdown defense on the other end.
Because the Thunder ran through the finish line to the All-Star break thanks to a five-in-seven stretch, Williams hasn't had a chance to really reflect on the career accomplishment. That was until now. With media members and fans from across the globe populating the area, he's enjoyed the extra attention brought by being one of the league's best.
"Just sharing this experience with them is dope. I actually haven't even seen Shai yet. Just seeing my coaches is cool. Obviously, they get to have their families here. It kinda just brings you down to Earth a little bit," Williams said. "Everybody is going through this really cool experience and a lot of us are doing it for the first time. It's been really cool with my team and people I'm in the trenches with every day."
An All-Star weekend fills out a player's schedule to the max. It's not as simple as Saturday's practice and Sunday's All-Star Game. Between the gaps, public appearances for the NBA and endorsement deals have kept Williams busy nonstop.
It settled in for Williams that he was one of the NBA's best players when he shared the floor with several future Hall-of-Famers at Saturday's practice. He's had quite the four-year journey from a small-school prospect to an NBA All-Star. It's only right he took a moment to catch his breath and see what he's done.
"It's starting to a little bit. My mom got a little teary-eyed yesterday. That made it a little more sunk in," Williams said. "I think practice made it a little more real. It's starting to hit me now that we're not playing."