Jailin Williams opens up about his relationship with Thunder Rookie

Oklahoma City Thunder Center Jailin Williams suffered a calf injury in training camp, delaying his 2024-25 campaign before making his debut in a 123-105 win over the Washington Wizards on Dec. 23. From December 23. With Thunder Center Isaiah Hartenstein made a comeback Against the Blazers coaching track, Williams mirrored his time with Oklahoma City rookie Branden Carlson and is making progress so far.

Carlson has grown accustomed to spending time with Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s G League Affiliate. He then signed a 10-day contract earlier Carlson Cracked Thunder Head Coach Mark Daigneault’s Rotation. After the team’s practice on Saturday, Jailin Williams opened up about the growth the rookie has seen over the past few weeks.

“BC was great. I feel like every time he shoots the ball, it’s good,” Williams said. “It’s fun watching him out there. I talked to him a lot during my recovery process. We’ve been in a lot of high (octane) sessions together, competing for each other. So me and him have gotten close. Our lockers are right next to each other in the room with the locker. We talk, we talk about different things. Our first conversation it was just a joking conversation.

“So just seeing him succeed, making shots, it’s always great to see another teammate, another friend of mine, succeed there.”

Carlson scored 11 points on 4-8 of 8 shooting, including 3-for-6 from deep in a 134-114 win against the Cleveland Cavs. He then signed a second 10-day contract amid a combined 7-13 shutout during a recent four-game stretch. The Thunder can no longer extend Carlson to a third 10-day contract and will have to sign him for the remainder of the regular season or waive him after Feb. 31.

Branden Carlson agrees to another 10-day contract

For the first time this season, Thunder rookie Branden Carlson received a first-fourth minute in his performance breaking into song. After the game, reporter he asked Thunder Head Coach Mark Daigneault if Branden knew he would check into the game in the opening frame.

“I didn’t tell him, no,” Daigneareault said. “(With) Hartenstein, that’s the first. So that frees up thirty minutes. And then I give Branden a ton of credit. All the invisible things that you guys don’t see and most people don’t see, the high-intensity workouts, the low-minute groups, his blue minutes, the way he approaches practice, and then, these minutes late in the game, When it’s blowing. It plays the same across all platforms.”

Carlson drained two 3-pointers in the opening frame amid a 30-2 run.