Q. What was it like bringing the trophy back home and not only that but also sharing that moment with Isaiah?
JAYLIN WILLIAMS: Yeah. It was incredible. Just being in my hometown and walking down the same streets I've been on my whole life and just being able to see people I've known my whole life, that they've seen me in Boys and Girls Clubs or they've seen me at Kimmons Junior High, whatever it is. They've seen me. Sharing that experience with them and sharing that experience with Zay, knowing how much it meant to the city is incredible.
Q. Who were the other people you were excited to share that trophy with when you did go home?
JAYLIN WILLIAMS: Definitely my homeboys. My home boys is a big one because I played with them in high school and they had been with me late nights rebounding, whatever it is. My homeboys was a big one. Really the big thing was my family, just seeing a lot of family that weren't able to come down for the games. Them taking pictures with the trophy was getting annoying but it was super dope just being able to share that with them.
Q. Do you ever worry about the trophy? I mean I know people are traveling with you, taking care of it. But when you're handling it and holding it, seemed like it would be a pretty good responsibility.
JAYLIN WILLIAMS: Yeah.
Q. People over the years people have screwed up the Stanley Cup. So if we start a basketball tradition, that would be a bad thing.
JAYLIN WILLIAMS: No. I don't think -- I wasn't worried about it. We had everything handled. The Thunder made sure that we took great care of it.
Q. Your relationship with Dub and your friendship has been a product of how close you guys are. We didn't know the full extent until after the parade and what the championship what he was playing through. But can you put into context what you saw him go through throughout the postseason.
JAYLIN WILLIAMS: Yeah. Dub is a warrior first off. He's a competitor and he wants to compete at the highest level. He'll compete regardless of what's going on. And I think every game that he got a shot, at the time that I was in -- I was in the training room getting taped while he would go get a shot. So I would walk past him. He would like smack my leg or something. He would get his shot. He would come back out with a band aid or whatever he got his shot in. Like we would just talk about it. I was in there when he got his first one, I was in there when he got his last one.
Just seeing what he was willing to do for the team and just being able to win and compete at the highest level. How can you not go to war with a guy like that? You want guys like that on your side.
Q. J-Will, one of the first orders of business for the team after winning was to get you signed. What did that mean to you and your family to get the new contract?
JAYLIN WILLIAMS: Yeah. It meant a lot. The first thing I did after I realized I was going to sign the contract was got in a group Facetime with my dad and my three brothers and I think we all cried. We all just were on Facetime looking at each other crying.
So it meant a lot just being able to provide for my family and provide for the people around me. Like I got a new house and it's big enough now to where my family is going to come celebrate Christmas with me and Thanksgiving with me, and I'm super thankful that Sam, Mark and the whole Thunder organization believes in me.
They'll put me in a position to be able to be with my family and do those types of things with my family, there's nothing in the world that tops being able to do stuff like that.
Q. Talking about all those blessings in your life. You're also a really good NBA player.
JAYLIN WILLIAMS: Thank you.
Q. The world discovered it last spring and get Chet and Isaiah are ahead of you on the depth chart, get more minutes. How do you rationalize, balance that out, hey, I'm loving this, we're having a great time. They love me, I love them but man, I could play a lot more somewhere else?
JAYLIN WILLIAMS: So I don't remember who I was talking to about it earlier. The way I've looked at the NBA and my journey in the NBA and my journey in college is that everything is a blessing. I really started thinking about that more and more last season when I dealt with those two hamstring injuries. Every time I step on the court, every time I tie my shoes, every time I do a lay-up, anytime I do anything I'm blessed to be there. If I'm sitting on the bench watching those guys go out there and kill whoever they're playing against, I'm blessed to be there.
And I trust Mark. I trust every coach. I trust every player on our team to put us in the best position. And if it's nights where it's not me out there on the court, it's going to be that.
I love our team. I want Hart, I want Chet to have a great successful career. I want them to succeed at the highest level and regardless if I play zero minutes or if I play 30 minutes, I'm blessed whatever I am and I'm blessed to even be in this arena in the first place.
Q. As you've seen Thunder fans and traveled maybe this summer what has the reaction been to your moment on the stage?
JAYLIN WILLIAMS: Everybody keeps coming up to me saying that that was a dope speech, and I'm sorry for all the kids that were there, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to do something like that again. If you watch the video when Hart was trying to push me up there to talk I was saying, I didn't want to talk because I didn't want what I was going to say.
It was incredible. Everybody loved it, and I'm happy that I was a part of it.
Q. We had a first training camp practice. All you guys are champions. Did anything change?
JAYLIN WILLIAMS: Honestly, I don't think so. I think nothing changes. I think that we go into the practice tomorrow the same way we went into it when I was a rookie. And I think that's what our team does really good. And our team, our whole organization is getting back to a zero-zero mindset. I think when we lace up our shoes and put on our jerseys, the other team is doing it the same way. And when the ball goes up in the air they don't care we won last year, so why should we?
So I think we go into training camp with the same mindset we have every single year.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports