Jalen Williams sheds light on Thunder's hilarious antics with sideline reporter

03/29/2025 03:04 PM

After every win, Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Jalen Williams and his teammates have fun with sideline reporter Nick Gallo during his walk-off interviews. Winners of 61 out of 73 regular-season games, the fun happens often, albeit Thunder players using Gallo as a towel rack, dressing him in team apparel, or Williams' hat and jewelry. In comparison, Jalen missed seven consecutive games due to a hip injury — anything to break the Oklahoma City reporter's concentration.

After Thunder practice, a reporter asked Williams what compels him and his teammates to engage in the postgame antics.

"I enjoy it. It just adds something else to do," Williams said. "Honestly, it's become more of a challenge to see if we can get Nick to break character. I feel like there's been a couple of ones we've been pretty close to. The towel one, we were pretty close. Actually, our most recent one, not the one where I put my hat on him, but the one where he put J-Will's jersey on, and Zay's warm-up. That's the closest we've been to getting him to break character. But it's just fun and something to do."

How did the antics with Gallo start?

"It started with Chet having us all do team group interviews," Williams said. "He would always do interviews and bring us on. I don't even know what started it, but we just realized how serious Nick was, and then, we just started messing around with him."

Thunder’s Jalen Williams and Jaylin Williams also often attempt to distract Gallo during his quick pregame report moments before tip-off.

"That was J-Will. J-Will started that," Williams said. "And then, I usually do leg swings to get warmed up before we go out, and I don't know. I'm crazy. We're weird. We're a weird team."

Chet Holmgren reveals the origin of Thunder's group interview

Thunder forward Chet Holmgren revealed the origin of group interviews. Several others join in whenever one Thunder player is setting up for their stand-up postgame interview with Nick Gallo.

It's a tradition, Holmgren recalled the beginning of it all, per ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel.

"I just remember in my first Summer League game, they tried to pull me aside for postgame media. I think I then pulled over Josh [Giddey] and told them, 'I'll only do it if he joins me.'

"Maybe it was right after that or sometime after that, but eventually, and I don't really remember when exactly it started, it turned into three people in the interview," Holmgren said. "Then there were five people after the next game."

The Thunder will continue their three-game homestand against the Pacers on Saturday.

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