The Thunder Maxxed Jalen Williams Out... Oops!

THE VICTOR OLADIPO EXAMPLE

A few years back, I was a member of this NBA Disqus group which I really enjoyed, as guru sharpeneth guru.  During the 2018 postseason the Pacers, led by Victor Oladipo, were facing the Cavs, led by Lebron James.  And with the series tied 2-2, during the final seconds of the pivotal, hotly-contested Game 5, long story short there was this controversial play where, basically, the refs unjustly favored LBJ over Oladipo, thus giving Cleveland the series more or less.

So everyone in that Disqus group agreed that yeah, shit was rigged.  But as for Oladipo, better luck next year.  He was making a name for himself, pushing Lebron to his limits, so it was only a matter of time, like every dog has his day.

But I was like nah, fuk that, because you can’t take shit for granted.  And what I was most specifically alluding to is how tender NBA players have become.

If somehow you put together a contender, there’s less guarantee than ever that the roster will remain healthy from one postseason to the next.  Just look at the Thunder for instance.

And sure enough, that next season was when Oladipo’s body really starting giving up on him, in the NBA sense.  And less than two years after that gypping, he went from being the next big thing, the young dude who may potentially take down the King, to getting assigned to the G-league.

We seen Oladipo, just this past summer, unsuccessfully try to get himself back into the NBA.  So clearly, even after being out of the game for a couple of years (and it honestly feeling much longer than that), he's not content with how his career ended.

On one hand you feel sorry for him.  But on the other it’s like, nobody has time for that shit.  There’s only so much logic that can be applied to employing an injured great over any healthy rotation-level player.  So that 2018 First Round exit, when he almost kinda prevailed against James and may have been cheated out of a history-altering upset, has proven to be arguably the biggest story of his career, besides making allstar once or twice.

THE JALEN WILLIAMS DILEMMA

What all of this leading me to, in a contemporary context, is once again OKC and more specifically the Jalen Williams’ dilemma.  Last year, they signed him to a rookie extension max of $240mil/5-years.

I do remember cautioning the braintrust not to be so hasty to max dude out.  But now seeing that the contract was signed in July 2025, I can't remember if that warning came before or after the fact.

He didn't begin displaying serious injury issues until the beginning of last season, which again was after the contract was signed.  Oh, wait a minute.  He did have wrist surgery right after the 2025 Finals, which was concurrent with the signing.  So yes, it is arguable, especially in hindsight, that the Thunder’s braintrust did haste, but Williams’ agents definitely did not.

Williams’ most recent injury, the one that happened just last week, had dudes on the court crying and shit.  You would think after something like that it’s like, he’ll never be the same player again.

So there’s a part deep down inside of me - perhaps inside of all of us - that may argue, you know, hang up the cleats type shit.  Those types of injuries that are so offputting that you have to like shield the victim from the cameras are not what you would expect in basketball, which is supposed to like a noncontact sport.  At least, you know, let an opponent tackle you or some shit.  Like how “awkwardly” can a 'healthy' athlete land from a jump, without making contact with anyone else, to the point of it having onlookers in tears?

THE PAUL GEORGE EXAMPLE

But let’s not forget something similar happened to PG13 a few years back.  And despite the lingering, realistic fear of re-injury, he's promptly regained allstar-ish form afterwards.

Let’s also not forget how Steph was undervalued early in his career, when the Warriors’ overestimated his injury issues, to the point that they’re still re-compensating him to this day.  So giving these dudes massive contracts are like a gamble nonetheless.  You never really know who’ll rightfully return from injury and who won’t.

But that said, oh sh*t, Williams is on the verge of basically missing two seasons in a row.  And going back to Oladipo, that’s the reality of the NBA for many young stars.

You come into the league fresh and hungry, but your body isn’t going to maintain that level of competitiveness into lebronish perpetuity.  So many dudes - Brandon Roy, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Kristaps Porzingis(?), as well as others who time has since forgotten, came in with all the promise in the world, but whereas the spirit was willing, the flesh wasn't.

They say the average NBA career is only what, like five years?  So another way of looking at it, for many of these dudes, is that they only have that amount of time to potentially contribute to a championship at an allstar level.  That reality doesn't bode well, as the highest draft picks tend to go to the worst teams.  But as for Jalen Williams, whether or not he ever takes the court in a meaningful way again, at least he got his ring, as arguably the best player on his team during that Finals.

CONCLUSION

But in the meantime, his contract just kicked in, so he’s getting $40mil this season, with that rate successively rising into 2030.  That’s money that OKC could, you know, rather be spending on someone(s) who can actually play.  Combining that amount with the fact that dude is like on crutches and shit, like his trade value is nil.  And in hindsight, OKC parting ways will all those wings this past offseason now feels another mistake or haste.

So this is yet another of those legacy vs. potential contract scenarios.  Maxxing Wiliams out was more of a no-brainer, considering that he had already proven himself an allstar and champion.  Indeed, he appears to be such an important cog in this iteration of the Thunder that they may not even get close to winning another championship, considering that he can’t play yet is consuming so much cap space, besides all of the players they recently gave up and also besides the other injuries they have to deal.

Every Team's X-Factor (Southwest Division)

I’ve now had the benefit of watching a few highlights from regular season games, though there’s a couple of teams on this list I still haven’t gotten a look at.  Anyhow, this is the final edition of “Every Team’s X-Factor” and the only entry of the series to be written after the start of the season.  But the goal remains the same, to identify the player who, even if you never heard of dude before or even if he’s a third-stringer, needs to step up to push the squad to another level.  Or another way of looking at it is finding where a depth deficiency in the roster occurs and then figuring out which NBAer on the team can fill that slot.

DALLAS MAVERICKS: ZACCHARIE RISACHER

Kyrie + Flagg = the best 1 + 3 forward combination in the league?  Nico Harrison wasn’t a dumbass after all?

The Mavs have a deep, versatile roster, more or less built for the modern (pre-Wemby) NBA.  But one thing I did notice is they have a lot of Gs, but I haven’t heard of most of them.  So when Irving inevitably goes down, that may be an area of concern.

But in the meantime, I going to with Zaccharie Risacher.  Fun fact: there’s only three teams (I think) with two no.1 picks on their roster - Philly, Washington and… Dallas.  Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much of these dudes.  But beating the two of the top three teams in the West (OKC and Houston) in consecutive games this past week, any way you cut it, says a lot.

Anyhow, Zach is the x-factor because, first of all he’s coming off the bench, and secondly, he can, in theory, play the 2 through 4.  To note, Aldama - yet another tall, lanky, multi-positional dude - will return eventually, I guess, which would then minimize some of Risacher's x-factorness.  This team’s makeup is similar to the Rockets, very F heavy, designed apparently such that most of the scoring comes from the frontcourt.

HOUSTON ROCKETS: STEVEN ADAMS

Indeed, Houston has Thompson starting at the 2, though he’s more like a 3 or small 4.  But still, they have enough depth in the backcourt to weather injuries.

This roster isn’t lacking in any area per se.  But since I’m forced to pick an x-factor, I’m going with Steven Adams.  Why?  He’s the only like big-big on the team.  And the way Houston insists on keeping him around, past his prime, shows that they perceive the value of having someone his size, as wemby insurance presumably.

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES: SCOTTIE PIPPEN JR.

So as it currently stands, this is the only undefeated team in the league.  Who would’ve thunk it?

I have yet to see these dudes play.  If Ty Jerome, a fukin C-lister, wasn’t playing out of his mind, it’d be easy to just come out and criticize Memphis's rotation.  Dude has made such a name for himself, in just a couple of weeks, that now when I read it, I’m no longer confusing him for a 1970s’ black guy.

If he’s able to sustain it, welcome to both MIP and allstar, Ty.  But as with other pundits, I don’t think that’s particularly likely.

So amongst their other Gs who don’t have much name recognition but need to represent, I’m going with Pippen Jr.  Well actually, he’s the son of an alltime great, which moves you up a grade or two on the celebrity chart by default.  But dude isn’t that popular and also is clearly more than just a nepo baby, having carved out a career for himself and regularly starting for, as it currently stands, the best team in the NBA.

No one saw this coming, but again, the season is a marathon, not a sprint.  But here’s to hoping dudes can maintain.  A formidable team led by a rookie is something the NBA hasn’t had in a long time.

NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: YVES MISSI

There are some teams, like the Sixers, who are overtalented in a good way.  While others, like the Pelicans, have compatibility issues.

I’m going with this dude Yves Missi, despite not even knowing how he looks, because there’s been headlines over the past couple of weeks pointing to how his injury throws the frontcourt’s balance off.  According to reports, NOP has another C, Derik Queen, who all-around better than Missi but doesn’t fit as well alongside Zion, the alpha.

The Pelicans are one of those teams that you just get tired of all their issues after awhile, because Missi starting, Queen starting, what fukin difference does it make anyway?  Does one or the other starting means they’re actually going to start winning games?  So at least give us a good show, braintrust.

SAN ANTONIO SPURS: JULIAN CHAMPAGNIE

The Spurs haven’t come out the gate red hot, as they're more or less running lineup experiments, as well as waiting to incorporate Harris.  I’m presuming that Tobias will be the starting 4 which, the more I think about it, may be a desired upgrade over Champagnie.

This team, in terms of their rotation players on average, isn’t really that tall.  They just drafted a couple of bigs, who at first I was speculating would get some run.  But considering this is very much a win-now squad, now that I think about it, they probably won’t.

Kornet can play the 4 but is better served in the middle.  So Julian remains the x-factor, as he was last season, if you could read in-between the lines.

Dude needs to learn how to play bigger than his size or his stretch preferences.  He needs to adopt that Malik Rose spirit, if he can, because once Harris goes to bench, or even likely with Harris is on the court, SA appears as if it’ll once again lack an imposing interior presence when Wemby is out on the perimeter.

CONCLUSION

I'm glad that I'm finally finished with this shit.  What's become obvious in pointing out every team's x-factor is that even though a player may fill a very-important need, in terms of being the last man standing at a position that has depth issues, that still doesn't mean he's actually gonna get run.  Coaches have players they trust and those they don't, and there's also injury issues that need to be taken into consideration.  But that said, I'm hoping to do an update to this series circa midseason, then based on having watched each team play out for a few months.

Lebron "Accidentally" Bloodies Edgecombe's Nose

When I saw that Lebron sat out the Sixers’ third game (24 Oct.) of the season, the first thing I thought or at least hoped is that the organization did so intentionally, after that crab shit he did to Edgecombe in the second game (22 Oct.), to minimize the threat of him destroying Philly’s established team chemistry - which btw already existed before he arrived.  You see how they won that third game without James but then lost the fourth one (25 Oct.) with him and without Embiid.  Granted, that was against Milwaukee and Detroit respectively, but you get the point. 

Having to deal with King James’ character brings its fair share of challenges.  I’ve noted that numerous times throughout the years.  And recently, Lebron even publicly acknowledged that himself.

As soon as I saw the headline that Lebron “accidentally” bloodied his own, younger teammate’s nose, I was like ‘oh shit, let me check YouTube’.  And sure enough, if you look at the video, it appears as if “Donatello” intentionally extended his arm into VJ’s face. 

Then, to quell all confusion of whether it was an accident or not, Lebron proceeded to casually walk away, to the other end of the court, as if nothing happened, not even bothering to see is Edgecombe was okay.  And btw, VJ is even younger than Bronny.

So off the top of my head, LBJ is the only player I can think of who has bloodied another player, on court - twice.  Oh, wait a minute.  There’s also that story of D-Wade - aka Lebron’s homey - breaking Kobe’s nose in an allstar, i.e. meaningless game at that.

LEBRON’S PAST INFRACTIONS

Let’s not forget when James “accidentally” bloodied Isiah Stewart.  They’re both big dudes, but Stewart is bigger.  And upon truly realizing what Lebron did and becoming enraged accordingly, he proceeded to totally shrink LBJ.  So in hindsight, maybe the lesson Lebron learned is hey, let me do it to a smaller dude next time.

And let’s not also forget there’s at least one highlight in circulation (which I don't feel like tracking down at the moment) of Lebron dunking on his own teammate, i.e. Kyrie Irving, during his second stint with the Cavs.  These ultra-competitive NBA superstars really are some class acts.  And one of the reasons LBJ will never be ‘greater’ than Jordan is because MJ had a better or more relatable character.

The worst you can say about His Airness, in terms of his on-court personality, is that he took challenges personally.  For all we know most NBA players do, but they aren’t able to back that shit up like Jordan.

Sometimes, he may have gotten into a duffing match with, say, Reggie “Skull & Bones” Miller.  But I can’t say I ever remember MJ ‘accidentally’ elbowing someone in the face.

CONCLUSION

After watching that second game of the season, the way LBJ more or less disrespected VJ and the way the Sixers proceeded to win regardless, I was like ‘oh boy, here we go’.  Granted, none of us knows what goes on behind the scenes.  For all we know, maybe there’s a genuine reason he has some type of dislike for the kid.  But that said, once I saw that, I was thinking it’s only a matter of time before he tries to force Edgecombe out, most likely for a big, since Philly is rich in Gs regardless, fukin j-hole.

So I’m hoping that the Sixers did compel James to sit the next game, to send a message, that they’re not going to tolerate that GM Lebron shit.  Philadelphia may not have a won a championship in recent times, but unlike any other team in the East, if not the entire NBA, as it currently stands they’ve been competitive for like a decade straight.  Can you say the same thing about the squads Lebron have been on?  Once Brown arrived, people were already calling the Sixers contenders, before King James even showed up.