Vietnamese American Jaylin Williams is making NBA Finals history

The Oklahoma City Thunder player is making his Viet mama proud as he makes history

Jaylin Williams was drafted by Oklahoma City Thunder in 2022.

Photo illustration by Ryan Quan

Words by Quin Scott

Third-year Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jaylin Williams rarely gets to be the first, or only, anything. He followed his older high school and college teammate, Isaiah Joe, to play for the Thunder; he’s most commonly seen in the Thunder’s trademark postgame interviews goofing around with a mob of teammates; and he wasn’t even the first of his name drafted by his team (the Thunder drafted Jalen Williams in the first round of the 2022 draft, followed by Jaylin in the second round).

With the Thunder in the NBA Finals (game one was on Thursday), Jaylin Williams can now lay claim to something of his own, as the first player of Vietnamese descent to make the finals (he’s also the first player of Vietnamese descent to make an NBA roster, so his competition was slim!). Williams is Vietnamese on his mom Linda’s side, who was born in Vietnam and moved to the United States with her mom Nga in 1975 after the Vietnam War. And she doesn’t take her son’s historical status in the league for granted.

“It never dawned on us he would be,” she told The Oklahoman in 2023 about him being the first player of Vietnamese descent on an NBA roster. “It’s so special to our family, to Jaylin…I’m still in awe of my son and what he’s capable of doing.”

In that same article, Williams said, “I’ve been getting a lot of support from the Vietnamese community. When I see people out, they always come up to me. If you see people in my jersey during the game, most of the time it’s Vietnamese people. It’s really awesome.”

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Williams is part of a young, dominant Thunder team that is heavily favored in this year’s finals against the Indiana Pacers. While headlined by this year’s NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the team’s real strength is its depth and defensive tenacity. Williams is far from the most important player, but he personifies the team’s gritty ethos as well as anyone. He is mostly called upon when the team needs his 6 feet, 10 inches and 240 pounds to battle with larger opponents, and perhaps his most successful basketball skill is charge-taking, which is less than glamorous.

You can find plenty of finals preview articles, podcasts, and clips this week, and you won’t hear Williams’ name very much (I should be more specific—you won’t hear about this Jaylin very much; the other Jalen Williams, as the Thunder’s second-best player, will be talked about plenty). He has averaged just under six points and six rebounds for the year, and besides some key minutes defending Denver Nuggets star center Nikola Jokic in the second round, has been fairly quiet in the playoffs.

The Pacers do not boast a very physical frontcourt, so it’s possible that Williams may not see any playing time out of garbage time in the championship round. But you get the sense that he won’t mind too much, and that he takes real joy in the success of his team and teammates. He’s the type of player that Thunder fans, and the Vietnamese community can be proud of.

Published on June 6, 2025