Renowned sportswriter and podcaster Bill Simmons recently released another episode of his podcast. With former ESPN sports host Ryen Russillo joining as a guest host, the duo devoted a major chunk of their time to playing a game titled “What did we learn this season?” As the discussion went on, Russillo highlighted how he initially saw Jalen Williams as a somewhat younger version of NBA star Kawhi Leonard. Reminiscing about Leonard helping the San Antonio Spurs secure a championship win during his 2 year with the league, the millionaire analyst recalled how he was already shaping up to be a worthy opponent to some of the best that the NBA had to offer.

“That was the year when we really started to wonder, ‘What’s going on with this guy?’ Like ‘This guy is guarding LeBron'”, Russillo said, adding, “And that was the best version ever of LeBron, and Kawhi seemed really comfortable in the mix with him, playing crunch time”. Additionally, he noted already making up his mind back then that there could be no other player who might rise to the same grounds as Leonard. That is, however, until the arrival of Jalen Williams.

“Jalen Williams is further ahead of the game than Kawhi was in Year 2,” Russillo claimed, continuing, “Body-wise, offensively, he’s better already. Could he be Kawhi 2.0? That is the real question.”

Simmons stated that while he may not believe that Williams will reach the same standards as the veteran player defensively, he has already made a memorable mark on the offensive part. However, the podcaster did state his belief that Kawhi Leonard did not start becoming known for his offensive prowess until his fifth year. By that logic, even if Williams had managed to surpass the stats set by 21-year-old Kawhi Leonard, that alone wouldn’t provide a fair comparison between the two players.

How does Jalen Williams fair against a second-year Kawhi Leonard?

In his two years with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Jalen Williams has already established his role for the team. As one of the leading scorers, his performance has seen a significant improvement from the one he delivered in his rookie season. However, is it better than the one that Kawhi Leonard delivered during his second year?

Jalen Williams has played 67 regular season games for OKC during this ongoing season, while Leonard’s total was 58 during the 2012–13 season for the Spurs. Till now, Williams has managed to accumulate an average of 19.5 points and 4.6 assists to his name. Significantly, the veteran player was way lower on this stat, securing only 11.9 points and 1.6 assists. While the highest points in a single game that the OKC small forward recorded this season was 36, the Spurs small forward’s count from back then was 26.

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While Williams clearly leads on the offensive front, as mentioned by Bill Simmons, Kawhi Leonard possesses a very slight advantage on the defensive side. With Williams averaging 4 rebounds this season, Leonard had 6 under his name, also taking the lead in terms of steals with his 1.7 when compared to Williams’ 1.1. With an average of 0.6 blocks, both players are now evenly matched. However, while the former currently had a defensive rating of 114, the latter marked an exceptional rating of 99.4 during the 2012–13 season.

Do you believe that Jalen Williams can be considered Kawhi Leonard 2.0? Let us know in the comments.

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