TIL JWill and Isaiah Joe come from the same hometown, were high-school teammates, won a state championship together, and only missed playing together at Arkansas by one year!

Was just casually reading Isaiah Joe’s Wiki page to learn more about everyone’s new beloved sharpshooter, and did a double-take when I saw JWill’s name pop up early.

They come from the same hometown (Fort Smith, Arkansas), played in high school together and won a state championship, then JWill (three years younger) eventually ended up playing at Arkansas too, only missing Isaiah Joe by one year!

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/nov/27/fort-smith-northside-duo-contribute-big-at/

In the thread announcing Isaiah’s signing, there were a couple of commenters who pointed out that JWill and Isaiah knew each other, but I at least totally forgot about that until now.

How dope is it to have two former high-school teammates from the same hometown and alma mater on the team? Add that to Shai and Dort’s bromance (literally roommates for a while and I think they’re still living on the same street as each other) and Giddey and Chet’s bromance (their summer-long long-distance flirtation lol and Giddey flying into OKC just to meet Chet and hang out with him before summer league), and there’s tons of reason to be super optimistic about team chemistry!

Plus everyone’s apparent love for JDub, the JDub/JWill connection, Tre and Giddey trolling each other in press conferences about Tre’s thirty-point games, everyone hanging out in the offseason, Shai and JDub teasing Poku on Instagram with the nerd Poku and Dirtbag Poku pictures, that maybe-fake-maybe-real post of Shai and Giddey ordering pizza together, Kenny and Mike wanting to retire in OKC, etc.

Damn, I love this team!

by NinetyFish