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Jalen Williams and the Oklahoma City Thunder dedicate their NBA Cup run to Jaylin Williams. Williams is nursing a hamstring injury but has his eyes on the potential $514,971 bonus given to each championship team player. While discussing the NBA Cup’s championship bonus, a reporter asked Jalen what he would do with his cut.
Willams didn’t hold back in revealing how he would spend the extra half-million bonus.
“I’ll buy a Lambo,” Williams said. “It depends on how much money [we get]. I don’t know how that breakdown works. I haven’t even looked at it. Do we get money for clinching?”
Players who lose the quarterfinals, the NBA Cup’s knockout round, where the Thunder will face the Dallas Mavericks, receive $51,497. Players of the semifinal’ losing team will earn $102,994, and $205,988 for players who lose in the championship game. In the second year of the association’s mid-season tournament, players are still familiarizing themselves with the rules and first-round stimulations.
However, for Thunder forward Jalen Williams, winning is the best approach.
“[It’s] games that we’re going to play anyways. So, it’s like, let’s win the game,” Williams said. “Like I said, if you win, it pushes everything aside, like point differentials and all that stuff. If you just win, I think that’ll help. So, hooray that we clinched.”
What would Shai Gilgeous-Alexander do with NBA Cup bonus?
Thunder All-Star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shared his honest NBA Cup take after beating the Jazz 133-106. The group round still confuses Gilgeous-Alexander. However, when a reporter asked the two-time All-NBA star what SGA would do with the NBA Cup’s championship bonus, he chose an unselfish route.
“I don’t know. I would give it away somehow,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
After the Thunder put the finishing touches on their 27-point blowout win, Gilgeous-Alexander started asking about the first-round scenarios for his team to advance to the second round. The Thunder finished 3-1 in group play, and following a 104-93 Suns victory over the Spurs clinched the league’s West Group B of the NBA Cup.
“I wasn’t at all until I knew we were going to win tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Then, I just asked around. But it’s all too confusing.”
Jalen Williams (28) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (26) combined for 54 points. Gilgeous-Alexander went 11-for-19 from the floor, including a pair of threes, and finished with seven assists, six rebounds, and three steals. Isaiah Joe’s 19 points, including 5-for-9 from deep, led the bench, and Aaron Wiggins with 16 points and three steals.
