In this year’s NBA draft, there were two players with very similar names: Jalen Williams and Jaylin Williams. When Jalen was selected at number 12 by the Oklahoma City Thunder, Jaylin’s camp was briefly confused, as this unsourced video spotted online shows:
Jaylin himself, however, immediately knew he had not yet been selected:
Jaylin waving off his crowd
I don’t know about his specific basketball talents, but Jaylin should surely get high marks for good-naturedness. Fortunately, Jaylin was drafted not too much later. Indeed, with pick number 34, Jaylin Williams was selected by…the Oklahoma City Thunder. Sure, why the hell not? Let’s have some fun. Make the world a slightly more amusing place. Put two players with identical-sounding names on the same team.
Following the draft, the Thunder arranged a photo shoot for the two players which included an excellent use of the Spider-Man pointing at Spider-man meme:
[Photo credits: OKC Thunder and, uh, the 1960’s era Spider-Man TV show]
This story doesn’t need to get more ridiculous, but it will anyway. A look at the current Thunder roster will show another player with an identical-sounding first name in Jaylen Hoard, as well as another player with the exact same last name, Kenrich Williams.
Good luck to the coaches and broadcasters who are going to have a hell of a confusing time next season.