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The Oklahoma City Thunder have been busy over the last few weeks celebrating their recent NBA championship victory over the Indiana Pacers. A big part of that feat was the play of Jalen Williams, who powered through a wrist injury that has since required surgery and scored 40 points in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Williams is now recovering from surgery on the injury and recently posted a photo of himself shooting with his left hand, right next to an iconic photograph of the late Kobe Bryant in a similar pose.
Fans on X, formerly Twitter, weren't thrilled with the Thunder star's attempt to recreate the famous photo.
“Take a pic for me bro i'm tryna do what kobe did,” mocked one fan, imagining how the picture came to be.
Another posted a GIF of corn, implying that Williams is corny for making the post.
Williams is far from the first NBA player to feel the wrath of Kobe Bryant fans after trying to recreate something that the Los Angeles Lakers legend did (just ask Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum).
However, Bryant would likely be proud of the heart and grit Williams showed by working through his injured wrist this postseason and stepping up in some of the biggest moments during the Thunder's championship run.
A busy summer for the Thunder
Priority number one for the Thunder this offseason was locking up the core that helped them win a championship for the long term, and Oklahoma City did just that by signing Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to lucrative contract extensions.
While some fans worried that the league's newly implemented second apron rules might eventually catch up to the Thunder, Oklahoma City is slated to bring back virtually the entire core that just helped them win a championship for the 2025-26 season.
There's still lots of room to grow for both Williams and Holmgren, and potentially even Gilgeous-Alexander, who is theoretically just now entering the prime years of his future Hall of Fame career.
In any case, while he continues to recover, Williams may want to refrain from posting any more Kobe-like pictures to avoid further mockery on social media.
