2024-25 Thunder player grades: Kenrich Williams

USA Today

4 hours ago

The calendar has flipped to August, which means we've officially hit the low point of the NBA cycle. The next couple of months are the driest part of the year. Everybody has headed to vacation and awaits training camp to kick off the 2025-26 season.
The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to enjoy their NBA championship. They had a historic 68-14 regular-season campaign that eventually led to the franchise's first title with a 2025 NBA Finals Game 7 win. They'll enter next season as a favorite to be a rare repeat winner.
To reflect on their title run, Thunder Wire will conduct 2024-25 season grades for all 19 players who suited up for the squad at one point during the year. Eleventh up is Kenrich Williams, who helped the Thunder win a championship with rich depth:
2024-25 statistics:
Advanced stats:
Significant Percentile Finishes:
Contract:
Thoughts:
One of the longest-tenured players on the roster, Williams had the chance to see the Thunder grow up from a rebuild situation to an NBA champion. Most role players don't get that opportunity. Instead, they get moved pretty early in the process. The 30-year-old has stayed with the franchise and was rewarded for his stint.
Dealing with injuries last season, Williams had a bounce-back year. He helped the Thunder juggle through injuries by being a reliable bench player who could occasionally start. The veteran wing was the right mix of being a solid defender who could also knock down his catch-and-shoot looks.
While his minutes have slowly declined over the years, that speaks more about the Thunder's rich depth. It affords the 30-year-old a chance to rest during the season. His style of basketball comes at the cost of dealing with small injuries throughout the year. They can be cautious about his recovery because they have other guys who can step up.
The lower mileage on his legs helped Williams stay fresh for the playoffs. He had a disappointing postseason debut last year. He slowly fizzled out of the rotation, despite fans clamoring for more minutes. He redeemed himself with key moments throughout the Thunder's title run this year.
Williams shined in the playoffs. Even though he was at the end of the rotation with the occasional DNP, he did his part to secure a championship. The role player was matchup-friendly against the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Indiana Pacers in their playoff series. Their lack of frontcourt size allowed OKC to go smaller and spread the floor. He fit that brand of basketball perfectly.
Originally just a throw-in name in the 2020 Steven Adams to New Orleans Pelicans deal, Williams has worked his way up from a possible roster cut to a six-plus-year Thunder player. It's rare to see a role player leave such a huge impact on an NBA franchise, especially on his non-original squad.
Williams' blue-collar personality has related to Thunder fans. His haircut and shy personality have endeared him to them. Always leaving it all on the floor, he helped set up the grounds of what eventually became one of the greatest defenses the NBA has ever seen.
Moving Forward:
See how much you can repeat last year's success. That's going to be the goal for about every Thunder player. They had one of the best seasons the NBA has ever seen. Williams played a role in that by being another bench piece who added to their rich depth.
At this point, Williams is who he is. Not much real room for growth for the 30-year-old. He's a versatile wing who can defend and shoot the ball from the outside. Those types of players are always needed on every NBA roster. Like a lot of the Thunder's roster, he was another one of their more underrated developmental success stories.
The outside shot has found its form on the Thunder. That's been the skill that's kept Williams in the league this long. While he might not be a high-volume outside shooter, his solid percentages make him somebody opposing defenses must keep an eye on.
Williams was on the cusp of being out of the NBA after his second season. Instead, he took advantage of his fresh start in OKC and carved out a lengthy career. Only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort predate him on his time with the Thunder.
As the Thunder get more expensive, players like Williams can help round out a contender. Soon, there will only be about 15% of the payroll to fill out 12 roster spots. Having a reliable forward on a team-friendly deal is one of the best ways to stay relatively deep without becoming too top-heavy a team.
Final Grade: B