Berry Tramel
OKLAHOMA CITY — Alex Caruso’s value to the Thunder knows no end. Even after the Thunder won the NBA championship with a 103-91 Game 7 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Paycom Center, Caruso was guiding his young teammates to more sophistication.
Caruso had to educate the Thunder on how to pop a champagne bottle cork.
“I tried my best when we got in there,” Caruso said of the Thunder locker room. “Through the learning experience of taking the foil off, undoing the metal, having the cork ready, there's three or four guys that popped their corks. Then it happened again. Eventually we got everybody on the same page.
“It was a good first try. We'll get some rest, reset, try to go again next year and see if we can do it again. We'll be better. We'll be better next year.”
Wait. I’m confused. Was he talking cork-popping or basketball? The NBA better hope Caruso was talking champagne.
People are also reading…
Now that the Thunder’s first championship is secured, now that Paycom soon will sport a flag that will fly forever, talk turns to 2026 and beyond. A team this good, a team this young, a team this loaded with great talent and great management and great draft capital, naturally draws talk of the d-word.
Could the Thunder win multiple championships? Can the Thunder torpedo the NBA’s newfound era of parity?
Everyone from Mark Daigneault’s team is under contract for next season. Sam Presti still has more first-round draft picks, this season and in years to come, than he knows what to do with. The Thunder is as well-suited to keep winning big as any champion this side of the Mickey Mantle Yankees or Vince Lombardi Packers.
Seven franchises have accounted for the last seven NBA championships, the longest stretch of share-the-wealth in league history. But the Thunder has its core set to be around for years to come, and oh by the way, that core is young and getting better.
062425-tul-nws-thunderparade-p1
Oklahoma City Thunder players celebrate after winning the NBA basketball championship Sunday night. Julio Cortez, Associated Press
The Thunder is set up to win and win big for years to come.
“I haven't even thought that far ahead,” said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who at age 26 is one of the NBA’s three best players and figures to keep getting better. “But yeah, we definitely still have room to grow. That's the fun part of this. So many of us can still get better. There's not very many of us on the team that are 'in our prime' or even close to it.”
Of course, you never know. Things change fast in the NBA. Injuries, lucky shots, discontentedness. All kinds of things conspire to change the expected order.
The Boston Celtics won the NBA title a year ago and seemed a solid choice to keep winning. Now the Celts undergo a reboot as superstar Jayson Tatum faces a year-long rehab from a torn Achilles tendon.
“You're not guaranteed anything in the league,” Caruso said. “I think that's the biggest thing that happens year to year that people forget about. Any moment your team can change with a trade, with an injury, with something that's out of your control.
“To be able to get to the pinnacle of this sport and win it is nothing short of extraordinary. To think that you can just walk in and do it every single year is a little bit naïve.”
The Thunder is the second-youngest roster ever to win the championship. The youngest was the 1977 Portland TrailBlazers, featuring 24-year-old Bill Walton, 24-year-old Maurice Lucas, 23-year-old Lionel Hollins and 23-year-old Bob Gross. Those Blazers seemed ready to run roughshod over the NBA.
But the next time Portland so much as won a playoff series, it was 1983, and Walton, Lucas, Hollins and Gross all were long gone.
The Eastern Conference is wide open, with season-long injuries already afflicting Boston, Indiana (Tyrese Haliburton’s Achilles tendon tear suffered Sunday night) and Milwaukee (Damian Lillard’s Achilles tendon tear).
The Western Conference always holds intrigue. The Nuggets still have Nikola Jokic. The Rockets just traded for Kevin Durant. The Timberwolves have made back-to-back West finals. The Warriors and Lakers are old but privileged. The Mavericks were rewarded for their stupidity by winning the Cooper Flagg lottery.
APTOPIX NBA Finals Pacers Thunder Basketball
Oklahoma City Thunder players put hats on the head of head coach Mark Daigneault as they celebrate winning the NBA title over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night. Julio Cortez, Associated Press
But the Thunder is an overwhelming favorite to repeat.
“I think we have a good chance,” Isaiah Hartenstein said. “Again, you always have to prove it again. Next season starts, training camp, everything is 0-0. It doesn't matter what you did the year before. But I think we have a good group of guys.”
Thunder star Jalen Williams walked into the interview room Sunday night and was a little goofy. Said he’d just had his first drink. Literally. First drink in his life. In case we’ve forgotten how young this Thunder team is, Williams was a reminder. At age 24, his first sip of alcohol came in the celebratory Thunder locker room.
Williams also was carrying the O’Brien Trophy. He was asked what it was like when the sought-after hardware was placed in his hands.
“Well, it's heavy,” Williams said.
Heavy indeed are the Thunder expectations. Dynasties are not for the weak.
The Thunder has become the hunted, over night. But you can’t win multiple NBA championships without winning a first, and that’s the most difficult achievement of all. The Thunder has popped that cork, and now learns that the truth that it is expected to win again.
APTOPIX NBA Finals Pacers Thunder Basketball
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort, left, celebrates with teammates in the locker room after winning the NBA title Sunday against the Indiana Pacers. Julio Cortez, Associated Press
berry.tramel@tulsaworld.com
0 Comments
Get in the game with our Prep Sports Newsletter
Sent weekly directly to your inbox!