SANTA CLARA — Jalen Williams has had fairly the calendar 12 months.
In January, he was named to his first All-Star crew. In Might, he was named to the All-Defensive Second Crew and the All-NBA Third Crew. In June, he gained his first NBA championship with the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder. In July, he signed a five-year, $287 million contract extension.
“I’m going to be honest: I don’t know if I ever thought about (retiring my jersey),” mentioned Williams, who turned the eighth alum to have his jersey retired. “I need to say it was extra simply making an attempt to get higher daily. I bear in mind after I first obtained right here, I used to be simply actually blissful to be a Division I participant. My mindset was, ‘How much better can I get every day?’ and let the chips fall the place they fall.
“I had NBA aspirations, but I think if I look back to it, I don’t want to sit here and like and say, ‘I thought I was going to be in the rafters.’ I had never thought about it, so it’s a little hard to wrap my mind that four years later, I’m doing it. It’s been a pretty cool journey in that regard.”
Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder’s Jalen Williams watches a video throughout a halftime ceremony retiring his Santa Clara College quantity 24 as his mother Nicole Williams wipes away a tear throughout an NCAA sport towards Utah Tech at Santa Clara College in Santa Clara, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
As Williams stood at middle courtroom, the video boards at Leavey Heart performed pre-recorded messages from 4 different Broncos who’ve had their jersey numbers retired: Carlos “Bud” Ogden (No. 34), Dennis Awtrey (No. 53), Kurt Rambis (No. 34) and Steve Nash (No. 11). Rambis, particularly, garnered some laughs by exhibiting off 9 championship rings, 4 of which he gained as a participant.
“I didn’t think Kurt was going to flex all the rings,” Williams laughed. “That made it a little more real. Just to be in the same breath as those guys that went here and had successful careers here.”
Wednesday night time was removed from the primary time that Williams has visited Santa Clara since being chosen with the twelfth total choose within the 2022 NBA draft.
Williams has returned to his previous stomping grounds a number of occasions through the years, one in all his visits coming in September with the Larry O’Brien Trophy in hand. Whereas the 24-year-old’s consideration is consumed by his skilled profession, Williams talked about wanting to remain seen and stay concerned with this system.
Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder’s Jalen Williams speaks throughout a halftime ceremony retiring his Santa Clara College quantity 24 throughout an NCAA sport towards Utah Tech at Santa Clara College in Santa Clara, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
“Being welcomed back here whenever I come … is also really special,” Williams mentioned. “It’s honestly cool just to come back. I was here a couple months ago and it feels like the school is already different than what it was when I was here. I just try to take those moments into perspective. That’s what I enjoy the most.”
Williams turned the eighth alum to have his jersey retired in at Leavey Heart, becoming a member of Bob Feerick (5), Nash (11), Nick Vanos (32), Ogden (34), Rambis (34), Awtrey (53) and Ken Sears (55).
Over three seasons at Santa Clara, Williams was a two-time All-WCC choice and was a finalist for the Lou Henson Award as a junior. After averaging 18.0 factors, 4.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists in his third season as a Bronco, Williams was chosen by the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder with the twelfth total choose within the 2022 NBA draft and have become this system’s highest draft choose of the fashionable period and the primary since Nash in 1996.
“(They were) one of the only schools to recruit me,” Williams mentioned. “So, there is a loyalty aspect to that in which I don’t think I would’ve gotten along with any other coaches and teammates the way I did here. Without them, I probably wouldn’t have had the same fire to keep playing and push through basketball. … It’s a special place.”
Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder’s Jalen Williams speaks throughout a halftime ceremony retiring his Santa Clara College quantity 24 throughout an NCAA sport towards Utah Tech at Santa Clara College in Santa Clara, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
Through the NBA Finals towards the Indiana Pacers, Williams performed by means of a proper wrist damage and averaged 23.6 factors, 5.0 rebounds and three.7 assists. In Sport 5, Williams turned the third-youngest participant in Finals historical past to attain at the very least 40 factors in a sport, behind solely Magic Johnson and Russell Westbrook.
“Especially once you get out of school, (life) goes by a lot faster,” Williams mentioned. “It’s arduous to actually sit down and discover your accomplishments and achievements and actually take it in. It’s one thing that I’m engaged on, making an attempt to be extra within the second and be actually blissful for lots of the stuff that occurs.
“Even like tonight, a lot of people don’t get this opportunity. … Hopefully, as my career winds down later on, I’ll be able to look back and see even more special moments than what I feel right now.”
Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder’s Jalen Williams leaves the courtroom along with his sister Jasmine Williams, and mother and pa Nicole and Ronald Williams, to the left, after a halftime ceremony retiring his Santa Clara College quantity 24 throughout an NCAA sport towards Utah Tech at Santa Clara College in Santa Clara, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
