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OKLAHOMA CITY —An evening ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder were crowned NBA Champions, defeating the Indiana Pacers 103-91 in Game Seven of the NBA Finals. Amongst the players celebrating being crowned the NBA's best was former Gael Alex Ducas, who capped off his rookie season with a title.
Ducas enjoyed a five year career at Saint Mary's, earning All-WCC honors in his junior, senior and graduate seasons. He finished out his Gael career scoring 1,353 points (14th most in program history), and finished in the top-10 in field goal attempts (9th, 1,069), three pointers made (2nd, 278), three pointers attempted (2nd, 684), free throw percentage (8th, 82.8%), game played (2nd, 150) and games started (2nd, 123). He is the only Gael to hit 80+ three pointers in back-to-back seasons, doing so in 2022-23 (87) and 2023-24 (81).
Following his Saint Mary's career, Ducas played for Oklahoma City Thunder Summer League Team, eventually signing a two-way contract with the Thunder, and their G-League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue. Ducas appeared in six games for the Blue, starting all six, and made 21 appearances off the bench for the Thunder in his rookie campaign. He made his NBA debut on January 10 in a win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, and scored his first points for OKC two days later in Washington DC against the Wizards. He dropped a career-high nine points on 3-3 shooting in a win over Brooklyn back home in OKC, and finished his rookie campaign shooting 40% from the field and 47.6% from three.
Ducas becomes the ninth Australian Born Player to capture an NBA Championship Ring, with three of those coming from Saint Mary's. Patty Mills was the first Gael to win a title in 2014 with the Spurs, and Matthew Dellavedova was the second in 2016 with the Cavaliers.
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