Exclusive: Jalen Williams talks 2025 March Madness AT&T commercial, Lu Dort's DPOY case

USA Today

18-03-2025

Exclusive: Jalen Williams talks 2025 March Madness AT&T commercial, Lu Dort's DPOY case
As schools across the country enjoy spring break, the basketball world shifts its attention to college basketball. After all, March Madness is synonymous with this time of the year as the temperature gets warmer and the days get longer.
The NCAA Tournament will kick off this week. 68 teams will try to capture a national championship during the month-long bracket. Like last year, AT&T will air a commercial featuring the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jalen Williams joins Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren in their latest AT&T commercial that'll air through March Madness. The Thunder's trio have skyrocketed to the top of the West standings and will enter the NBA playoffs as a title contender.
To talk about their new TV ad, Williams talked with Thunder Wire about his AT&T commercial debut, the behind-the-scenes of it and why he thinks Lu Dort should get Defensive Player of the Year. This interview was lightly edited for clarity and brevity:
Almanza: How did the AT&T commercial with Shai and Chet come to be?
Williams: "You're in Oklahoma, so you would know but last year, just having them do a little song and stuff went viral during March Madness. They both played in it. Obviously, a no-brainer. I get to do my first commercial shoot. Being able to do it with my teammates was really dope.
"As you know, it's AT&T and March Madness, you get the upsets of March Madness and all that stuff. Just like the brackets and all that stuff. I've been with AT&T. I've used it as my phone plan before I even did this deal. Being with AT&T, somebody I trusted for a long time with my phones and as much as I like to travel, having their background with me. It was a cool all-in-one, three-for-one kinda thing."
Almanza: Whose idea was it to add you to this year's commercial?
Williams: "I guess it was a little bit of Shai and Chet. AT&T hit me up too. It was a group effort. Everybody decided it'd be cool if I was in it. Like I said, it was pretty easy for me to say yes."
Almanza: Was it your guys' idea to have the commercial be all three of you dressed the same?
Williams: "Shai had a little say in what he wanted to do. The dress the same thing was part of the script so shoutout to AT&T for that. We all kinda had our own little touch to what we had for our wardrobe. You see me wearing the sideways hat, you see Chet wearing his glasses and his hat a different way, Shai no hat and white pants. We still wanted to match and obviously we wore the same kinda top. I thought that was a pretty funny spin where last year's they were singing the jingle."
Almanza: Was there any consideration of doing another jingle this year?
Williams: "That I don't know. I'm kinda happy they didn't. I think it's cool that Shai and Chet did their own thing and then we had a cool little spinoff of something else. It gives us room if we ever did another one to play with other things and kinda revisit it again."
Almanza: You mentioned this was your first commercial. What was that like being in that acting environment?
Williams: "It was really cool. I've done stuff that was close to it. I did the Buffalo Wild Wings, which was kinda like an Instagram thing and TikTok. It was more on the social media side. This one being a main TV one was really cool. I feel like there were a lot more cameras for this one. A lot more takes. AT&T made is really, really easy."
Almanza: Have you filled out your bracket yet or have any thoughts on the NCAA Tournament?
Williams: "I need to fill out my brackets. I'm excited to see the Women's one as well. I have USC doing very well. Kinda waiting for the status of Cooper Flagg a little bit to see where I want to put Duke at. That's what's holding me up a little bit."
Almanza: Kinda related back to the Thunder, you've vouched for Lu Dort to win DPOY. What would your case be for him if you had the chance to talk to the voters?
Williams: "For somebody that's never been on a Defensive Team, it's already doing him an injustice being that every year he's had to guard the best player on every single team every single night and done a terrific job doing it. That in itself is already extremely difficult.
"There's no nights off. He goes from Damian Lillard, Steph Curry to De'Aaron Fox. I feel like fans may throw away the fact that you may play a team that's not doing so well. But then if you throw in like, he'll have to play LaMelo Ball and he'll play another team where he has to switch his gears a little bit and has to guard LeBron. The amount of people he has to guard on a regular basis is very insane. I don't think anybody else in the NBA is doing that."
Almanza: You guys have the best defense when looking at most stats. With the All-Defensive Teams, how much are you guys vying to fill up as many of those 10 spots as possible?
Williams: "I think Lu should be on there. I definitely think myself should be on there. The range of people I have to guard too is kinda the same argument for Lu. We're not too concerned about getting awards. I think Lu stands out because he's never been on an All-Defensive Team and every year, he has to guard the level of players he has to guard and he does a really good job at it. If you ask any player around the NBA, they bring his name up.
"I think he should definitely be on an All-Defensive Team. But it's not something everybody focuses on. We have guys like Cason Wallace. I don't know if Alex Caruso has played enough games to do it but AC's been on the First and Second Team in his career a couple of times. Isaiah Hartenstein but I don't know if he can be on there. The range of defenders we have is great. Shai is going to be in consideration for it. He's top three in steals and for guards, he's something up there with the blocks. I know me and Caso are in the steals category too. Hopefully, we can clear the board and throw five or six guys up there, which I doubt will happen."