Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams Speak Postgame After Claiming Rising Stars Championship
In this story:
The NBA All-Star weekend events kicked off Friday night, where up-and-coming stars in the league competed against each other in the Rising Stars Challenge.
The format was altered this year to implement four different teams coached by former basketball icons this year. The Oklahoma City Thunder's Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren ended up taking the trophy with Team Jalen Rose, taking home the cash prize and defeating the likes of a determined Benedict Mathurin and Team Detlef.
Williams turned in the game-winning shot, hitting the target score to help his team claim the tournament.
"I like, fake ran a stack play so they could go under and I could shoot a three," Williams said postgame of setting up his game winner. "I don't know if the team knew that's what I had intended but that's what I was going to do.
"Yeah, my parents are here, so it's always good to have them around and enjoy the festivities. You never know when you'll get invited to this weekend like this again, so."
Williams was lax for just securing and extra $25,000 it seemed, just happy to be there a part of All-Star weekend. But Holmgren seemed to be pretty giddy the entire postgame presser.
Oklahoma City's 7-foot-1 rookie turned in two points with a blocked shot in his championship outing.
"It's a great opportunity to come out and have fun, but also put out a good product for the fans," Holmgren said. "Throughout the season, you don't really get a chance to talk to a lot of these guys... shoutout to all our teammates, they were all cool."
A typical Holmgren answer, he didn't let the cash go unnoticed, though.
"Always great to put a little extra bread in your pockets," he said with a semi-grin that he couldn't seem to wipe off his face.
And though it's not a traditional break for Holmgren and Williams, participating in these events definitely provide a chemistry boost and should continue to energize and motivate them for the second half of the season.
Want to join the discussion? Like Inside the Thunder on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Thunder news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.
