Jalen Williams has been in the NBA for just three years, but he’s undoubtedly one of the exciting young players in the league.
The 24-year-old Oklahoma City Thunder star has improved year by year, and he played a very key role in helping the franchise win last season’s NBA Championship. Williams was ultimately rewarded with a massive five-year $287 million contract extension.
In an interview with TMZ this week, Williams, who was also selected to last season’s All-Star and All-Defensive teams, touched on his rise to stardom and inking the huge contract extension. He admitted that he was yet to process everything.
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“It’s surreal,” Williams revealed. “I know everybody kind of uses that term, but it’s wild because it happened really fast, like within the span of three years, my life is completely different.”
Williams also said his parents no longer have to work. “But yeah, I mean, it’s cool. I’ve been fortunate enough to retire my parents,” Williams stated.
Williams’ parents are both Air Force veterans. His father, Ronald, is a 24-year veteran, and he was a jet engine mechanic and logistics specialist. His mother, Nicole, served as a medical officer for 12 years.
Williams’ younger brother, Cody, is also an NBA player with the Utah Jazz. Besides everything that’s going on in Williams’ life, he also said he had been keeping an eye on Cody’s professional career – though he’ll ultimately take a breather and process everything, TMZ reported.
The 24-year-old also said the money was yet to be credited to his account. But that shouldn’t really be an issue because he’ll eventually be laughing straight to the bank.
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