PHOENIX — Although the NBA Finals were not within reach for the Phoenix Suns, the Valley will be well represented in this season’s championship series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers.
Former Perry High School standout and current Thunder forward Jalen Williams will be competing on the national stage in the NBA Finals, marking the first time an Arizona high school player has done so since Deandre Ayton did with the Suns in 2021.
“It feels very surreal,” Williams said in a press conference following the Thunder’s series-clinching win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals. “I think just from this being my third year, it kind of happened pretty fast, so I’m trying to put all of it in perspective.”
Perry honored Williams on Thursday morning by ceremoniously renaming the high school’s main street from “Perry Puma Drive” to “Jalen Williams Way.”
“We’re a family,” Perry principal Heather Patterson said at the event. “We’re all about relationships and making that connection with our kids, coaches and each other.”
Williams won’t merely be a participant in the finals, but will have a crucial role as one of the best players in the series. In his third NBA season, Williams started in all 69 games he appeared in for the Thunder, averaging 21.6 points per game – second on the team behind league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Thunder finished with a league-best 68-14 record, while Williams earned his first All-Star appearance and made the All-NBA third team and All-Defensive second team at only 23.
“He is a guy who enhances culture because he has a tremendous joy that he brings every day,” said Herb Sendek, who coached Williams in college at Santa Clara. “He plays both ends of the floor. He can score, he can playmake, he can defend.”
These honors at such a young age may make it seem like Williams has been a bonafide star for years, but in actuality, Williams’ journey to this point has been anything but conventional.
He came to Perry’s varsity team as a freshman who was graciously listed at 6 feet, talented and intelligent, but nowhere close to a recognizable name in college recruiting circuits.
“Jalen was a pleasure to coach,” said Sam Duane Jr., who coached Williams all four years at Perry. “Great teammate. Free spirit, but a competitor. Probably one of the highest IQs of any basketball player I’ve ever coached.”
Even by his senior year after a growth spurt, a Chandler Unified School District Player of the Year award and emerging as the eighth-ranked player in the state, according to 247Sports, Williams was still largely under the radar. He ended up committing to play for mid-major Santa Clara, a program that hadn’t seen national relevance since Suns-great Steve Nash donned the Broncos uniform.
“I knew Jalen could play at a high level,” Duane Jr. said. “For whatever reason, teams didn’t want to go on him, but Santa Clara saw what they saw in him, and it was a perfect fit.”
It was at Santa Clara where Williams finally began to see some of the spotlight as a high-level prospect. Williams played in 84 games across three seasons for the Broncos, earning an All-WCC first team selection his junior year while leading the team with 18 points and 4.2 assists per game.
“His sophomore year was the COVID year, and we had a very challenging campaign as a team,” Sendek said. “Our county was extremely restrictive. We were displaced for a couple of months. But even then, that was when we had the first inclination that this guy could be an NBA player, despite all the adversities we were facing.”
The Thunder selected Williams with the 12th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. Williams then proceeded to finish second in Rookie of the Year voting in his first season, and has cemented himself in the upper echelon of the game’s best players since.
“Sam Presti and the Thunder organization is second to none,” Sendek said. “I personally was thrilled the Thunder selected Jalen, having great respect for Sam and that organization.”
Despite reaching national stardom in the NBA, Williams continues to pay tribute to his roots at both Perry and Santa Clara.
“I try not to forget it because that’s a long time from now already,” Williams said. “I just try to keep it in the back of my mind as a reminder of the progress that I’ve made and how blessed I am to get to where I’m at.”
Duane Jr. added that “we have a really good relationship. Every time he’s here I go see him play. I stay in contact with him and I love his family.”
Williams struggled a bit in the West semifinals series against the Denver Nuggets, with his efficiency ratings well below his season averages (37.5% from the field, 23.7% from three), but made up for it with an excellent series in the next round against Minnesota.
“Life is ups and downs, same thing with basketball,” Williams said. “I know I put the work in to be good in those moments, so you try not to get too high or too low when you do have an off-night or when you do play well.”
Against Minnesota, Williams averaged 22.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists on an efficient 49.4 field-goal percentage and 46.2 3-point percentage. His impact could be seen outside of the box score as well.
“Just the smart plays he made in this series — saving balls, tipping passes away — just his IQ and understanding of the game really separates him,” Duane Jr. said.
The Thunder are heavy favorites to win the Finals against the Pacers. They’ve dominated the playoffs, going 12-4 in games played to this point.
“They have certainly met and exceeded anybody’s expectations on how fast they have risen under coach Mark (Daigneault) with a really young team,” Sendek said.
While this moment is historic for Williams and Arizona high school basketball, those closest to him know that with his competitive hunger, he’s not yet satisfied.
“Enjoy the whole thing, but the job’s not done,” Duane Jr. said. “Don’t be happy just to get there, be happy to get one.”
Back at Santa Clara, Sendek is enjoying the ride from afar — keeping his conversations with him lighthearted.
“He has a great sense of humor, we kind of go back and forth and give each other rib shots,” Sendek said. “My role is to stand in the background and lead the standing ovation.”
Game 1 of the NBA Finals tips off tonight at 5:30 Arizona time, with Williams’ community standing behind him — cheering on the kid from Perry who proved he belonged.