Thunder’s Jalen Williams makes Dunk of the Year candidate vs. Grizzlies

The Oklahoma City Thunder returned to winning ways on Monday night after taking a 119-103 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, once again, put up a dominant effort, scoring 31 points to lead OKC to victory, but with a lot of their key guys out, Gilgeous-Alexander could not have done it on his own.

To that end, Jalen Williams provided sufficient support as the undisputed number two option, scoring 24 points on 10-20 shooting from the field. But that wasn’t all that Williams did for the Thunder. He woke up the Paycom Center crowd with a dunk of the year candidate, throwing down a nasty poster jam over the outstretched arms of both Jaren Jackson Jr. and Christian Koloko — two legitmate shot-blockers.

With less than a minute remaining in the third quarter, Williams split a double team following a ball screen. This then gave the Thunder star all the runway he needed to put both Jackson and Koloko on a poster.

JALEN WILLIAMS SLAMS IT OVER CHRISTIAN KOLOKO pic.twitter.com/O3Ksj6o7s3

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 23, 2025

Williams and the Thunder are coming off a disappointing loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, so bouncing back was imperative. They did take a few punches from the Grizzlies, but OKC did manage to throw back a haymaker that Memphis was not able to recover from.

Thunder return to winning ways despite fielding shorthanded frontcourt

On Monday night, the Thunder were without both Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, thrusting sophomore big Branden Carlson into his first career start. OKC was also without Alex Caruso, Aaron Wiggins, and Jaylin Williams. But this team is simply too deep and too good that the absence of a few crucial rotation players isn’t enough to prevent them from getting the win.

The Thunder will look to go on another lengthy win streak heading into their Tuesday night contest against the San Antonio Spurs in a rematch of the NBA Cup semifinal.

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