Jalen Williams explains how NBA players are constant targets for “honey traps” in the Twitter Era
Jalen Williams just finished his rookie year in the NBA for the OKC Thunder and he already had a taste of popularity's double-edged sword. In a recent interaction with Don't Trip, he explains how honey traps are set to lure NBA players as their bait.
Williams is in his second year in the NBA and in just a short span of time, he already got a taste of the good and the bad side of being popular. One of the things he mentioned was the number of women waiting for the players outside their hotel rooms hoping to get picked up.
Just focused on doing his work on the basketball court, Williams tried to stay away as much as he could to avoid any issue blowing up and ruining his reputation.
"I try to stay out of the mix as far as like girls during the season," Williams said. "I've seen some stuff just in general like I know girls be like hanging out in the hallways and hotel rooms all the time and kind of do that just to see like who they kind of get to come upstairs with, They just be like chilling there. They'll like know your schedule and stuff and you know you always get the like the random DMs like fly me out."
Aiming to give a more visual picture of what goes on when NBA players go back to the hotel room, Jalen Williams suggested that these things are not a secret anymore due to the internet.
"You guys see on Twitter. You guys are on Twitter You guy's definitely see it," Williams added.
WATCH: Jalen Williams' full interview with Don't Trip
Jalen Williams is careful not to give in to the temptations of "honey traps"
There have been numerous athletes in the past decades who faced issues of getting lured to honey traps. In this era where everyone has a cellphone camera, nothing is safe and cases like these can make or break the reputation of any athlete.
Knowing the consequences, Jalen Williams already knows what will happen if he falls into the honey trap.
"I think that's the trap that I think a lot of like especially younger guys fall into," said Williams. "You might have had they'll wait for you to have a good game then they'll be at the hotel room and now you know can take me upstairs, let's go out to eat."
For those players who indulge in the temptations, the aftermath is something they might not be able to control according to Williams.
"There's been all kinds of stuff, people get their wallets and stuff, stolen or you know they'll go take a picture of you while you're asleep," said Williams. "You got to be careful in that regard like I think that's my thing too is like I'm dangerously afraid of stuff like that could happen."
In his first season with the OKC Thunder, Williams averaged 14.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.4 steals while making the NBA All-Rookie First Team along with Paolo Banchero, Walker Kessler, Bennedict Mathurin and Keegan Murray.