Kenrich Williams Offers Solid Minutes in OKC Thunder Season Debut

Oklahoma City is slowly but surely starting to see what a full strength lineup will look like this season. They have a ways to go to get everyone back — and incorporate them into an already dominant lineup — but it’s starting to come around.

Right now, the main focus is still on Jalen Williams, who seems to be close to returning but still hasn’t played a game yet. Aaron Wiggins hasn’t played in three weeks, either, creating two pretty big holes in Oklahoma City’s lineup. On Wednesday night, though, this Thunder team got its first injured rotational piece back in the lineup, as Kenrich Williams suited up for his first game of the season.

Williams has played in 69 games for the Thunder in each of the last two seasons and has been an integral piece to Oklahoma City’s rebuild. Through it all, he has been a constant when the roster around him was changing. Now that he’s older, and Oklahoma City has risen through the ranks to the NBA’s best team, his role on the court isn’t as large as someone like Jalen Williams or Aaron Wiggins. But his return was still a welcoming sight for this Thunder team who could use all the bodies possible.

In his season debut, he played 12 minutes off the bench. Williams missed his only shot attempt of the night, but added four rebounds and an assist. In his 12 minutes, he was a +11 on the floor.

Mark Daigneault on the Thunder getting Kenrich Williams back.

“He brings a certain edge and competitiveness, fearlessness, versatility to us and we can use him in a lot of different ways. And he’s always ready and tonight was no different.” pic.twitter.com/5c8sAEsXFH
— Michael Martin (@MichaelOnSports) November 27, 2025

“I love our guys, it’s great to have all of them available,” Mark Daigneault said after his debut. “He brings a certain edge and competitiveness, fearlessness, versatility to us. We can use him in a lot of different ways, and he’s always ready. Tonight was no different, I thought he gave us good minutes to start the second, good minutes at the end of the third. It was great to have him back in the fold.”

Williams played just over 16 minutes per game last year and gave the Thunder a rock solid veteran presence off the bench. Many of the players mentioned how much they loved having him back in the fold because of his competitiveness and leadership. He has been a mentor to many of the rising players on this team.

His solid defense and willingness to rebound is something that can really help this Thunder team. Even if he's not in the rotation every single night, he's always going to be ready. It was a quiet debut for Williams, but a good debut nonetheless. On a historically good, 18-1 team, sometimes quiet is best.