Jalen Williams, Thunder recent struggles a phase or signs of a fundamental concern?

For All-Star Jalen Williams and the Oklahoma City Thunder, adjusting to a new normal is an underlying theme for the 2025-26 season. Williams preached patience after his long-awaited season debut. Knowing two right wrist surgeries and a 19-game absence was just the beginning of the most challenging campaign of his career, he knew he wouldn’t return to the All-Star production of last year right away, but could this — more or less — be the Jalen we see all year?

Williams is averaging 17.2 points on 46.3% shooting, including 31.3% from deep, 5.4 assists, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.5 steals through 18 games, numbers that are nearly identical to last year’s, minus a dip in scoring. When teams are forced to limit Williams’ offense, the All-Star forward has struggled to get to his spots, which was undoubtedly the case in the Thunder’s 124-97 blowout loss to the Charlotte Hornets.

The Thunder, amidst critical acclaim for its near-perfect start to the season, has received every opponent’s best haymakers as defending champions. The turn from an underdog team shocking the league in its first championship season to being compared to the NBA’s recent dynasties in the Golden State Warriors and the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls didn’t sit well with the rest of the league. Perhaps it was too soon.

But the manner in which coach Mark Daigneault and the Thunder dominated, outscoring opponents by an absurd 17.4 points during a 24-1 start, made it easy to understand the hype surrounding reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder. Oklahoma City was handed its sixth and seventh losses of the season on a game-winning three by Phoenix Suns All-Star Devin Booker on one night.

Then, failed to show up against the Hornets on the second night of a back-to-back. Williams finished with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting against Charlotte. Still, Williams’ efficient scoring is just one of the many facets that make him so valuable to the Thunder. He’s still defending at a high level, rebounding is on par with what we saw in his breakout season last year, while the law of averages suggests his shooting should return to form.

For Mark Daigneault, Jalen Williams’ scoring isn’t a lingering concern this season.

“I think with a guy like that has a long body of work, at this point, as a young player, he’s played a lot of games. And we’ve seen him in a lot of situations — he’s got a long body of work with this team.” Daigneault said. “We’re really not gonna overreact to a period of time. I think he’s still working back. He’s healthy, but he’s still working through kind of a new normal as it relates to his wrist. And he’s doing a good job with that.”

“He’s getting lost in the team. He’s competing. He’s still impactful, and he’s only going to get more rhythm. He’s only going to get more comfortable and confidence in his physical ability to do what he needs to as time goes on. He’s off to a good start. He’s prioritizing the right things. That’s really what we’re focused on,” Daigneault concluded.

Mark Daigneault’s honest take on Jalen Williams’ first 12 games of the season: “We’re really not gonna overreact to a period of time.

He’s still working back. He’s healthy, but he’s still working through a new normal as it relates to his wrist. He’s doing a good job with that” pic.twitter.com/PW0gK2H3I7

— Josue Pavón (@Joe_Sway) December 28, 2025

Mark Daigneault reacts to Jalen Williams, Thunder shortcomings

Just three weeks ago, Jalen Williams was discussing the Thunder potentially beating the Warriors’ 73-9 regular-season record for best in NBA history. Since then, coach Mark Daigneault and the Thunder lost half a dozen games, with the San Antonio Spurs responsible for three of those losses. The defending champions were also outplayed by the Timberwolves, the Suns, and the lowly Hornets.

In many ways, the Thunder’s most recent loss came down to effort, as the Hornets out-rebounded OKC, 52-33. Shots weren’t falling on the second night of a back-to-back, Oklahoma City’s defense couldn’t stop the bleeding, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took 21 shots to reach 21 points. Now, the team that sprinted to 25 wins in 27 tries looks mortal, as the rest of the NBA takes notice of how to beat the Thunder.

It starts with limiting SGA and the Thunder’s core, controlling the pace, a consistent blend of 3-point shooting and points in the paint, and effort. The Hornets made 19-of-37 from three (51%). Chet Holmgren and Williams combined for 31 points on 11-of-25 shooting.

“We’re always just going to evaluate the performance independent of the context,” Daigneault said after Monday’s loss. “We want to be a high-compete team. We want to be a high-together team, and we want to be a really good execution team. And when you have a game like, usually, you call short in those areas.”

The monotony of an 82-game regular season breeds complacency at various points for a defending champion, but this feels different: the Thunder went from 73-9 Warriors debates to a 31-point loss against a 13-23 Hornets squad, losing back-to-back games.

“There are times in the NBA season where the wind’s in your face, and there’s times when the wind’s in your back for different reasons,” Daigneault said. “And when the wind’s in your back, you got to stay grounded, and humble, and keep that in context, and just continue to get better in games. Wind was in our back, obviously, earlier in the season, and then, when the wind’s in your face, you’ve got to endure.

“And you’ve got to have the resilience, and the toughness to continue to compete, to continue to stay together, continue to focus on the controllable execution things that help you change course. So, that’s what we’ll do. That’s what we’ve always done, and it’s what we will do in this situation.”

The Thunder will host the Jazz at the Paycom Center on Wednesday.

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