Jaylin Williams, Cason Wallace ejected following massive brawl between Wizards, Thunder
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Jaylin Williams might be watching Arkansas, the SEC program he played for not too long ago, when the Razorbacks take on upstart High Point in a second-round West Region matchup in the NCAA Tournament.
That game between the 4th-seeded Hogs and 12th-seeded Panthers will tip off at about 9:45 p.m. ET from Portland, and it’ll be broadcast on truTV and TBS. Williams, who played for Arkansas from 2020-2022, was an All-SEC player during his final season and was also named to the SEC All-Defensive Team during that last year in Fayetteville.
The Arkansas native stayed in his home state, was named Mr. Basketball in Arkansas in 2020 after starring in high school in Fort Smith, Ark., then went on to a productive career for the home-state Razorbacks. Then he was drafted in the second round by the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2022, where the forward has stuck since then, even winning an NBA championship last June. He’s become a part of the Thunder’s rotation, and on Saturday night he was representing the defending NBA champs once again.
Williams and the Thunder were taking on the lowly Washington Wizards during the middle of a road trip, with the best record in the NBA as they eye a repeat. What could possibly happen out of the ordinary? Well, a lot, and that’s why each game matters. Williams was involved in a massive brawl late in the second quarter of the matchup between the NBA’s best and one of its worst teams.
With 27 seconds left in the second quarter and OKC leading, 68-63, Williams started going at it with Washington’s Justin Champagnie. The pushing and shoving between the players descended into a massive brawl along the baseline, with both teams going at it.
Four players were ejected after everything was untangled, with Williams and Champagnie naturally being 2 of them. Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace, who played at Kentucky, and Ajay Mitchell were also ejected, so Saturday night wasn’t one of Williams’ finest hours as a professional on the NBA’s rock star team.
Of course, the Thunder were still fine without the trio of players who were ejected, cruising to a 132-111 victory to improve to 56-15. But if Williams was indeed watching his Razorbacks on Saturday night, he was probably doing it with some bumps and bruises from an unfortunate incident in his young NBA career.
Williams doesn’t play for Arkansas anymore, but the program he starred at is playing a very important game on Saturday night as the Razorbacks take on underdog High Point for a spot in the Sweet 16. Here is what the Kalshi market currently sees regarding the second-round West Region matchup:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
