This has been a fantastic year for the Oklahoma City Thunder who hoisted its first Larry O’Brien trophy in large part thanks to Jalen Williams.

The 24-year-old swingman more than stepped up as the OKC Thunder co-star alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to play the role of the No. 2 option on a title team perfectly for the majority of the postseason while battling injuries –– and adversity –– throughout the playoffs.

As the calendar flips to August there is nothing left to do. It is a time of limbo. It is too soon to truly preview next season, we have all done plenty of re-counting of the past campaign. The typical highlights of this month remain the unveiling of the schedule’s for all 30 teams and everyone scrambling to make rankings.

Active player rankings, all-time player rankings, power rankings, the list goes on. Lists of the best offseason lists. Whatever you can think of to get past the one dead month of a year around sport.

Which makes even the slowest month of the NBA calendar exciting for Oklahoma City as the Thunder should be well represented on the top-x player lists and positional rankings ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.

Hoops Tonight podcast host, Jason Timpf, went on his show Monday to tab the aformentioined Santa Clara product as the best small forward in the NBA.

“I think Jalen Williams might already be the best small forward in the NBA. In the playoffs last year, Jdub demonstrated a remarkable ability to get all the way to the rim. He attempted shots at the rim seven times per game, which was the tenth highest mark out of the entire playoff field. This is a big part of why I have Jalen Williams above a guy like Jaylen Brown next year. Jaylen Brown is a similar archetype of player. Two-way athletic wing,” Timpf explained. “But I think Jalen Williams will be better next year at the three key things that define the small forward position. One, I think [Jalen Williams] will be better at getting to the rim, two I think [Jalen Williams] will be a better jump shooter next year. Reminder, the previous year [Jalen Williams] was one of the very best pull-up shooters in the entire NBA. Lastly, I think [Jalen Williams] has already shown himself to be a better passer than Jaylen Brown, despite the lack of experience. I think that gap will continue to grow. [Jalen Williams] is just a more natural playmaker.”

Timpf is spot on with the rankings of the Thunder swingman. Williams is a bit of a unique player when it comes to positional rankings, though with Oklahoma City’s double-big lineup they introduced on Feb. 7 it slides the All-NBA member to a more natural small forward slot where it isn’t a bold claim that the Thunder are rostering the best in the sport at both the point guard and small forward spot thanks to the partnership of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams.

The podcast host makes a compiling case for Williams to land over Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown. In this scribes rankings, I have each of them tied together, ranking inside the top 20 at No. 18 and 19 of the top 100 players in the league.

“I think J-Dub might already be the best SF in the NBA.”@_JasonLT breaks down how OKC’s second star has risen so high pic.twitter.com/cfjdXTPZo7

— Hoops Tonight (@hoopstonite) August 4, 2025