OKLAHOMA CITY — Prior to Sunday’s pivotal NBA Finals Game 7 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers, a video circulated showing Thunder workers preparing championship buses in anticipation of a victory.
Bulletin-board fodder for the Pacers? Could have been.
But Oklahoma City defeated Indiana 103-91 on Sunday to win the first NBA title in Thunder franchise history. The Thunder will use those busses Tuesday when the team celebrates its historic championship.
We love our underdogs, but we also love champions who talk trash and back it up. There’s something commendable about achieving the expected — even if it takes seven games.
Except for an opening series against the Memphis Grizzlies, OKC was pushed at every turn. They swept the overmatched Grizzlies but were pushed by Denver and challenged by Minnesota. The Thunder finally overcame the pressure and did what was expected by winning the franchise’s first NBA title in Oklahoma City.
After Sunday’s game, Thunder guard Shei Gilgeous-Alexander, voted Finals MVP, told reporters that he felt the weight of the world had been lifted. “So much weight off my shoulders,” he said. “So much stress relieved.”
But the expectations are only beginning. We await the encore.
Gilgeous-Alexander joined select company by being named both regular-season MVP and Finals MVP. The Company he joins is NBA royalty: Michael Jordan. LeBron James. Larry Bird. Tim Duncan. Shaquille O’Neal. Hakeem Olajuwon. Magic Johnson. Moses Malone. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Willis Reed. Most of those players won multiple titles.
There won’t be much time for Gilgeous-Alexander or the Thunder to savor the championship.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with the Larry O’Brien and Bill Russell trophies on June 22 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
This is the reality in the unrelenting, non-stop world of great expectations. In the fast and furious NBA, the only constant is change. Rosters change, coaches change, and this week at the NBA draft a new group of rookies will enter the league.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (left) and Jalen Williams (right) of the Oklahoma City Thunder pose for a portrait with the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP award and the Larry O’Brien championship trophy after winning Game 7 on June 22 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images
In the midst of change, can the NBA’s youngest team meet the expectations of winning multiple titles in its championship window?
Less than 40 minutes after winning his first NBA title, Gilgeous-Alexander was asked about repeating.
“I haven’t even thought that far ahead, but yeah we definitely have room to grow and that’s the fun part of this,” he said. “So many of us can still get better. Not very many of us on the team are in our prime, or even close to it, so we have a lot of room to grow individually and as a team.”
No team has repeated as NBA champion since 2018 when the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers for their second consecutive championship. That list of non-repeaters includes the Toronto Raptors, who lost Kawhi Leonard in free agency after their championship run. The Lakers didn’t repeat with LeBron James after 2020. The Bucks didn’t repeat with Giannis Antetokounmpo after 2021, nor Golden State with Steph Curry after the 2022 title, Denver with Nikola Jokic (2023), or the Celtics with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (2024).
And therein lies the challenge for Oklahoma City: How can a so-called small-market team distinguish itself?
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One of the themes of this series was how two small-market teams were battling mightily, yet ratings were low. If the Thunder want to remove the small-market imprimatur and make OKC a destination, they need to win back-to-back NBA championships. At the very least, they need to win two out of the next three titles or three out of the next four.
That’s how a tiny town like Green Bay, Wisconsin, became Titletown USA: by winning championships.
With Gilgeous-Alexander, (26), Jalen Williams (24) and Chet Holmgren (23) at the core, the Thunder are young enough to become a championship magnet. Although the current collective bargaining agreement makes it difficult for teams to repeat, Oklahoma City has a young enough roster to climb through that championship window multiple times.
Or so it would seem. Minus an NBA title, this franchise has been here before.
Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant drives to the basket against the Houston Rockets at the Footprint Center on March 30.
Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images
In a fitting, if ironic, transaction prior to Game 7, Kevin Durant — who was the star for the Thunder’s young core in 2012 — was traded to the Houston Rockets. According to reports, Durant was traded for Houston’s young star Jalen Green, Dillion Brooks, the No. 10 pick in this year’s draft and five future second-round picks.
Durant should be a cautionary tale for Thunder fans who are predicting or hoping for a Gilgeous-Alexander-led dynasty. Thunder history and recent NBA history suggests that fans should embrace this championship moment.
Durant was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in 2007 and followed the team when it moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook were anchors of the Thunder 2012 team that reached the NBA Finals, where they lost 4-1 to the Miami Heat. Harden was traded after the 2012 season.
In a shocking move that some Thunder fans called treasonous, Durant left OKC after the 2016 season and signed with the Golden State Warriors. He signed a month after the Warriors overcame a 3-1 Thunder lead in the Western Conference finals. Durant won two NBA titles with Golden State, but his departure still stings because of what Thunder fans felt they could have accomplished.
The Rockets will be Durant’s fourth NBA team since leaving OKC and, fair or not, Durant has developed a reputation as something of a mercenary. In fact, Durant is neither villain nor mercenary. He’s actually a model of self-preservation in a dog-eat-dog era in the business of basketball.
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How does Durant’s movement out of OKC connect with the super-young Thunder team and the promise of a string of NBA titles? For starters, nothing is promised.
After the Celtics won the championship last season, we predicted a dynasty. Then, Tatum tore his Achilles against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Suddenly, the Celtics’ future looks murky. After Denver won a championship, the franchise was obliged to allow key rotation players Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope leave in consecutive seasons because of salary-cap restrictions.
In April, Denver fired head coach Mike Malone, its one-time championship coach, just before the regular season ended. The Pacers, who came from seemingly nowhere to take OKC to a Game 7, saw their young star, Tyrese Haliburton, go down with a right Achilles injury on Sunday that landed him on crutches.
Presumably, the Thunder should be able to keep their young roster together long enough to make two or three championship runs. But who can predict injuries? Who can predict whether or not young players will grow tired of their supporting roles after two or three more seasons?
Can the Thunder repeat? Can Gilgeous-Alexander help turn Oklahoma City into Titletown USA? Who knows? The lesson of the last nine NBA seasons and the lesson for OKC is to enjoy the parade, plan for the future and live for the moment.
Those championship moments may never come again.
William C. Rhoden is a columnist for Andscape and the author of Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete. He directs the Rhoden Fellows, a training program for aspiring journalists from HBCUs.