After Oklahoma City Thunder star Jalen Williams scored 40 points in the Game 5 NBA Finals victory over the Indiana Pacers, there were a ton of statements made by the basketball world comparing him and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to a legendary duo. Mostly, the comparisons have been the Thunder star in Williams to former Chicago Bulls forward Scottie Pippen, which the 24-year-old finally responded to.

Williams had been compared to Pippen in multiple instances, especially how he is an elite two-way player who can impact both ends while being a top-notch second option to that of Gilgeous-Alexander, the MVP of the NBA this season. There's no doubt that Williams is flattered by the comparison, according to ESPN.

“I feel like a new-age Scottie, maybe,” Williams said. “I'm not mad at that one at all. I like that. And then obviously Shai gets a little Jordan comparison, so that's cool. It's very cool. Any time you compared to somebody like that, you're doing something right.”

Even Pippen himself, who won six championships in the 1990s next to Michael Jordan and others, would talk about Williams and even said how he sees “a lot of me in him.”

“He is pretty special,” Pippen said. “I'm enjoying watching him. I see a lot of me in him for sure. I see a guy rising to be one of the top players in this league. He's definitely a player that is capable of being able to lead that franchise to multiple championships — him and Shai, of course.”

Scottie Pippen believes Thunder's Jalen Williams can be better than him

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With the connection between the Thunder's Williams and Pippen, it's no doubt high praise since the latter would go on to have a highly successful Hall of Fame career. However, Pippen would go as far as to say that he can “see him being greater.”

“I don't even want to put a cap on him to say that he's going to be me,” Pippen said. “I see him being greater, if I can say that. Just because of where the game is today. They have offensive freedom. We didn't have that. We mostly ran out of a system. These guys have the freedom to shoot 3-balls and things of that nature. Players that are playing in today's game have a chance to be better than players in the past because of the ability to shoot the ball.”

“If this kid continues to shoot the 3-ball the way that he shoots it, I'm not going to sit here and argue with nobody and say that you can compare us,” Pippen continued. “Because you can't. He wins.”

Williams looks for his first championship with Oklahoma City with the opportunity to do so on Friday night as the team has a 3-2 lead over Indiana.