Jalen Williams has offseason workout with Santa Clara basketball team

Temperatures are finally cooling down. Football-crazed weekends are back. All these are signs that the NBA is right around the corner. The 2026-27 regular season is set to start in a month. The Oklahoma City Thunder enter the year as co-title favorites — alongside the San Antonio Spurs.

If the Thunder hope to win a second NBA championship in three years, Jalen Williams must have a bounce-back year. One of the ways he's ensured that's going to happen this offseason? Working out at his alma mater in the waning days of the offseason.

Williams recently visited Santa Clara. He practiced with the men's basketball team. Of course, he spent three collegiate seasons there from 2019-22. In that time, he worked his way up as an NBA draft prospect. Eventually, the Thunder selected him with the No. 12 pick of the 2022 NBA draft.

Safe to say that's one of OKC's best draft picks ever. Williams has turned into an All-NBA talent. He helped Shai Gilgeous-Alexander bring home the Larry O'Brien trophy in the 2025 NBA Finals. And while his 2025-26 season was plagued with injuries, most know a healthy version of him unlocks the Thunder and their historic dominance over the last two years.

Aside from Steve Nash, Williams is probably Santa Clara's most successful basketball player. He's led a recent Renaissance for the West Coast Conference school. Since he joined OKC, other alumni members like Brandin Podziemski and Allen Graves have joined the NBA.

It's cool to see Williams still give back to his college. Over the years, he's been very proud of his roots there. He's one of the best examples that even mid-major schools can develop high-end NBA talent. He flew under the radar for his first couple of years, but really exploded onto the scene in his junior season.