The Lineup
SPORTS EDITOR
Jeff Patterson
DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR
Jacob Unruh
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Darla Smith
THUNDER BEAT REPORTER
Joel Lorenzi
COLUMNISTS
Jenni Carlson
Joe Mussatto
REPORTER
Justin Martinez
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Nathan J. Fish
Sarah Phipps
Bryan Terry
Doug Hoke
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Ray Rivera
DESIGNER
Joey Schaffer
PROOFREADERS
Jennifer Troyer
Heather Hewitt
FACT-CHECKER
Sherrill Amo
PROJECT COORDINATOR
Gene Myers
SPECIAL THANKS
Chris Thomas, Alicia DelGallo, Chris Fenison, Vanessa Cotton
About the book
“THUNDER UP!” condenses a year’s worth of the world’s best coverage of the Oklahoma City Thunder from The Oklahoman. Follow the Thunder at oklahoman.com. Order a print subscription at 877-987-2737. This book includes coverage from the USA TODAY Network, which includes The Oklahoman.
On the cover
The Oklahoma City Thunder celebrated its first NBA championship on June 22, 2025, after a 103-91 victory in Game 7 over the Indiana Pacers. In Year 17, the Thunder won 68 games, boasted the best point differential in league history and thrilled fans across the globe with its fast-paced offense and tenacious defense. The center of attention was superstar point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, shown hoisting the Bill Russell Trophy as the MVP of the NBA Finals. SGA also was the MVP for the regular season.
BRYAN TERRY / THE OKLAHOMAN
PREVIOUS PAGE: Point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and center Chet Holmgren with forward Jalen Williams formed a formidable Big Three for the Thunder, a young team that should contend for championships for the foreseeable future.
ALONZO ADAMS / IMAGN IMAGES
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright owner or the publisher.
Published by Pediment Publishing, a division of The Pediment Group, Inc. • www.pediment.com • Printed in Canada.
This book is an unofficial account of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 2024-25 season by The Oklahoman and USA TODAY and is not endorsed by the Oklahoma City Thunder or the National Basketball Association.
16 36 74 114
CHAPTER ONE THE SEASON
CHAPTER TWO THE TEAM
CHAPTER THREE THE PLAYOFFS
CHAPTER FOUR THE GLORY
Thunder
UP!
SGA’s MVP Season and OKC’s Historic
Championship Run
Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander showed OKC fans the Michael Jordan Trophy, which he received during the playoffs as the league’s most valuable player. Other MVPs from the Thunder were Kevin Durant in 2014 and Russell Westbrook in 2017. ALONZO ADAMS / IMAGN IMAGES
Overheard
“They arrived here in 2008. And this city, this fan base, this community has embraced them from Day 1. The shot clock is off. They’ll run it out. The Thunder have taken the NBA by storm. For the first time, the NBA champion resides in Oklahoma City. The storybook season is complete.”
Mike Breen’s call on ABC
ABOVE RIGHT: Unlike forward Jalen Williams, assistant coach Chip Engelland had been face-to-face with the Larry O’Brien Trophy twice as an assistant with the Spurs in 2007 and 2014. In his third season with the Thunder, Engelland had been a preeminent shooting guru for decades. Before an itinerant career playing overseas and in minor leagues, Engelland had been a ball boy for John Wooden’s last champion at UCLA and a player on Mike Krzyzewski’s first teams at Duke. KYLE TREDA / IMAGN IMAGES
OPPOSITE: Backup big man Jaylin Williams doused Thunder chairman Clay Bennett in the locker room. A local businessman, Bennett led the investment group that purchased the Seattle SuperSonics from former Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schultz and eventually moved the franchise to Oklahoma City in 2008.
SARAH PHIPPS / THE OKLAHOMAN
said. “For me, I’ve seen greats do it, so I knew the way. I knew the mindset. But to see these guys do it, man, it’s really cool to see it in person. I’m so happy for the guys to be able to figure it out and to be able to get this done.”
The Indiana Pacers pushed OKC unlike any other. Their insatiable role players, their unwavering offense, their late-game devilry. They were almost never out before the buzzer sounded, and even then, a double-take was necessary to know that it wasn’t just a bullhorn.
Tyrese Haliburton’s grim first-quarter exit after a torn Achilles tendon in Game 7 wasn’t Indiana’s instant demise. It grinded out a halftime lead. It still earned
crossmatches and seals and drilled 3s with its series-long precision. All the while, OKC’s offense clenched up.
The Thunder was faced with that months-long choice. Put up or shut up.
Shrivel up or grow up. Appear as youthful and inexperienced as your detractors prefer you to be or be Benjamin Button, wrinkled at heart and whippersnappers in the face.
The third quarter told the story of its season.
Five steals, double the 3-point attempts that the trigger-happy Pacers could manage and more points off turnovers than they could handle. Vigor in a bottle.
Oklahoma City technically isn’t the
youngest to rock the crown. It’s the youngest champion since the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers, when cigarette fumes and ’70s air normalized Maurice Lucas’ scotch-onthe-rocks goatee and aged mug; ask your barber for Lionel Hollins’ afro sideburns and beard combo and receive a copy of Marvin Gaye’s album.
But the Thunder is the youngest in a modern era whose stone-age ways deem this squad an outlier. A league that requires your stars to be conditioned by bruised ego and immense playoff loss.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 26, completed one of the most decorated seasons in league history. In Game 7’s 103-91 victory, he tapped into no-look passes and
2023-24 SEASON REVIEW
MAVS OUST OKC IN SIX THIS ENDING IS JUST THE BEGINNING
HOME OPENER
THUNDER 128, HAWKS 104 M-V-P! CHANTS RESOUND FOR SGA
2024-25 SEASON PREVIEW OKC’S BEST TEAM EVER? THIS SQUAD BUILT TO CLEAR THAT BAR
SEASON OPENER THUNDER 102, NUGGETS 87 HOLMGREN OUTSHINES JOKIC
TOP GAMES FROM THE SEASON THE ROAD TO 68 15 IN A ROW, 50-POINTERS, PLUS MORE
The Season
DESPITE THE NBA’S YOUNGEST ROSTER, THUNDER BREAKS OKC RECORD FOR WINS, EARNS NO. 1 SEED
OPPOSITE: Point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stood with his teammates before a game at Golden State on Jan. 29. Although the Warriors won 116-109, SGA erupted for 52 points — his second 50-point game in a week and second of his career. CARY EDMONDSON / IMAGN IMAGES
Best of the best: The 10 games that defined Gilgeous-Alexander’s amazing MVP season
JUSTIN MARTINEZ | MAY 21, 2025
THUNDER POINT GUARD SHAI
Gilgeous-Alexander won the NBA’s most valuable player award in a runaway.
Out of 100 votes from a panel of sportswriters and sportscasters, Gilgeous-Alexander received 71 firstplace and 29 second-place votes. SGA beat Denver’s Nikola Jokic, who had 29 first-place and 71 second-place votes. Milwaukee’s Gannis Antetokounmpo finished third.
So how did Gilgeous-Alexander flip the results from 2024’s balloting, which saw Jokic crush SGA as the runner-up? Here’s a look at the 10 games that defined Gilgeous-Alexander’s spectacular season.
10. Beating the Heat
Date: Feb. 12, 2025.
Site: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City.
Score: Thunder 115, Heat 101.
Stats: 32 points (11-22 FG, 4-9 3PT, 6-9 FT), nine assists, five rebounds.
Skinny: Two nights before the All-Star
break, the Thunder appeared to have checked out early, falling 21 points behind Miami. But Gilgeous-Alexander woke everybody up by scoring 10 of OKC’s first 13 points in the fourth quarter. OKC outscored the Heat 32-8 in the quarter for its largest comeback victory of the season.
9. Topping Luka and LeBron
Date: April 8, 2025.
Site: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City.
Score: Thunder 136, Lakers 120.
Stats: 42 points (14-26 FG, 5-9 3PT, 9-11 FT), six assists, six rebounds.
Skinny: In a star-studded, high-scoring game with LeBron James and Luka Doncic in town, Gilgeous-Alexander turned aside the Tinseltown hype. James scored 28 points and Doncic 23, but the Thunder used a 39-22 fourth quarter for a 16-point victory. SGA had 10 points and two assists playing 7:13 in the final period.
8. This one’s for Chet
Date: Nov. 11, 2024.
Site: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City.
Score: Thunder 134, Clippers 128.
Stats: 45 points (13-21 FG, 4-8 3PT, 15-16 FT), nine assists, five steals, three rebounds.
Skinny: In OKC’s first game since center Chet Holmgren suffered a fractured pelvis, Gilgeous-Alexander erupted for 45 points, a career high. SGA by the quarter: nine points, 12, 13 and 11.
7. A bigger burden
Date: March 12, 2025.
Site: TD Garden, Boston.
Score: Thunder 118, Celtics 112.
Stats: 34 points (11-20 FG, 2-7 3PT, 10-11 FT), seven assists, five rebounds.
Skinny: It’s hard enough to win at Boston. It’s even harder to win without one of your all-star players. But that’s what OKC did with Jalen Williams sidelined by a right hip strain. SGA put the game on ice with two free throws with six seconds left, finishing a 10-for-11 night at the foul line.
6. No panic in Detroit
Date: March 15, 2025.
Site: Little Ceasars Arena, Detroit.
Score: Thunder 113, Pistons 107.
Stats: 48 points (17-26 FG, 4-6 3PT, 10-10 FT), six assists, four rebounds.
Skinny: Remember the victory over the Clippers without Holmgren and the one over the Celtics without Williams? At Detroit, Holmgren and Williams were out. The Thunder started SGA, Cason Wallace, Lu Dort, Isaiah Hartenstein and Kenrich Williams. The Pistons pressed SGA full court during his 38 minutes of action. Asked whether he ever had been more exhausted, SGA replied: “I was very tired. Very, very tired. It’s definitely up there.” His dagger was two free throws with 13 seconds left, capping a perfect night at the charity stripe. SGA by the quarter: nine points, 11, 17 and 11.
5. MVP showdown
Date: March 9, 2025.
Site: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City.
Score: Thunder 127, Nuggets 103.
Stats: 40 points (15-32 FG, 2-11 3PT, 8-8 FT), eight rebounds, five assists.
Skinny: The scoreboard read OKC vs. Denver — but everyone knew this game
OPPOSITE: En route to winning the MVP award, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the NBA in scoring at 32.7 points a game. Against the Heat on Feb. 12, he led the Thunder’s comeback from 21 points down by scoring 10 of OKC’s first 13 points in a 32-8 fourth quarter. The Thunder won 115-101. ALONZO ADAMS / IMAGN IMAGES
THUNDER 125, NUGGETS 93
AT PAYCOM CENTER, OKLAHOMA CITY
Once up by 43, Thunder doesn’t ‘leave anything on the table’ in smackdown
JOEL LORENZI
ONE BY ONE, THE PLAYERS WHO saved the Thunder’s season resigned to the bench, and Mark Daigneault’s shoulder collided with their battle-worn chests.
“Bad (expletive),” he mouthed, pointing at the bony chest of Chet Holmgren.
“Bad (expletive),” he mouthed, Cason Wallace’s triceps leaving a bruise through Daigneault’s quarter zip.
Daigneault didn’t need to say much else. If he wanted to use even fewer words, they were there for him: Nasty. Gritty. Thievish. Excessive. Relentless.
Daigneault was feeling edgy. The words consumed him, proud that the Thunder chose Game 7 and a 125-93 demolition of the Nuggets to lean furthest into its identity.
For all the misconstruing that happens in these playoffs, the number of faces teams end up wearing, this was
the Thunder he recognized.
“We’re not perfect, but they’re just so easy to bet on,” Daigneault said after OKC punched its ticket to the Western Conference finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves. “They’re great competitors. They do things the right way. They’re professional. They’re inside the team. Everybody sacrifices for the team.
“Not everybody always gets what they deserve, but this team deserves these types of opportunities.”
Only three members of the Thunder had played in a Game 7. There were admittedly nerves involved. Jalen Williams hardly slept. Shai GilgeousAlexander went on “do not disturb.”
“I was nervous, to be honest,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Just knowing what’s on the line. We’ve worked so hard the whole 82-game season. We’ve all worked so hard in the summer. To know that, if you don’t bring
your A-game, it could all be over with, and all for nothing.
“I think that nervousness motivated me and helped me play today. Helped me give my all on both ends of the floor.”
It showed in Oklahoma City’s tiptoe to settle into this Sunday afternoon game. Nikola Jokic, still the mightiest foe the Thunder had faced, collected free throws like trading cards in the first quarter. The Thunder jumped with prematurity and angst.
But this deep into a playoff series, the tricks are meant to be out of the bag. No hands left to play. No adjustments worth raving over. Daigneault begged to differ.
After playing Gilgeous-Alexander the length of the first quarter, he left him in to start the second. SGA wound up part of a stringent eight-man rotation. A rotation Jaylin Williams wasn’t part of after hardening his husk to
handle Jokic for half the series.
Jokic’s primary defender for half the amount of time that Game 7 remained competitive was … Alex Caruso. All 6 feet and 5 inches. The second quarter saw Caruso and the Thunder open Pandora’s box.
OKC forced eight turnovers then, holding Denver to 6-for-20 shooting in the period. At one point, the Nuggets’ biggest challenge was to toss the ball to the wing. An entry pass into the post was worth bonus points. All proved to be on Hall of Fame difficulty.
Caruso swam like a gold medalist inside Jokic’s reach. He bent down on both knees, fronting the post, occasionally adjusting his headband mid-harassment. Jokic, a nuclear threat once the ball reaches his fingertips, was often forced to be looked off.
Jokic’s 20-point, 11-free-throwattempt afternoon featured a 20.2% usage rate. That mark ranked 93rd out
OPPOSITE: In the final clash of the biggest stars, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander easily had the upper hand on Nikola Jokic. SGA: 35 points, 12-for-19 shooting, four assists, three rebounds, three steals, zero turnovers. The Joker: 20 points, 5-for-9, nine rebounds, seven assists, five turnovers. SARAH PHIPPS / THE OKLAHOMAN
of his 94 career playoff games, with the lowest being his postseason debut. He had a career-low nine field-goal attempts in both games.
If you saw the waxy shine atop Caruso’s bald head, chances were you were already frozen and surrendered the ball, OKC’s own Medusa.
“We’re just trying to be ruthless,” Caruso said. “Part of that, in Game 7, is Mark did a good job of telling us, ‘You don’t have to do anything special. You just have to be who you are.’ We won 60-something games for a reason. We’re in the second round, in Game 7, for a reason.”
Nearly a half into Game 7, the Thunder was no longer prodding or tiptoeing. It was preying. A voracious team trying to see whether to pick at bone or skin. Trying to understand how to disfigure Jokic’s worn-down Nuggets.
The running helped. The pick sixes, the 2000 Baltimore Ravens impressions. Jalen Williams was sprinting the other way often, exploding at the rim in a 17-point quarter on 8 of 11 shooting. The Thunder outscored Denver 39-20 in the second quarter.
“I was just excited to play,” said Williams, explaining his sleep deprivation with an occasional yawn. “You never know how many Game 7’s you’re gonna get, and it’s an opportunity to be great.”
Great he was.
“He brought his A-game when we needed it most,” Gilgeous-Alexander said, “and that’s what makes you the upper echelon in this league.”
The Thunder’s most efficient lineup — SGA, Williams, Caruso, Wallace, Chet Holmgren — shared the floor for 7
minutes, 51 seconds. That quintet outscored the Nuggets 31-7, composing a 172.2 offensive rating and a 41.2 defensive rating.
Caruso was a plus-40. Wallace was a plus-38.
After outscoring the Thunder by five points in the first quarter, the Nuggets were outscored by 30 points in the ensuing quarters. OKC bottled up its best stuff, sparking the late-half lead that eventually reached 43 points.
The Nuggets signaled the end of their season by inserting reserve Hunter Tyson with 9:36 left in the game. He hadn’t played since the Game 2 blowout; when he entered in Game 7, the score was 106-74.
Gilgeous-Alexander, as steady as he had been all series, scored 35 points on just 19 shots (with zero turnovers) to keep the Thunder afloat.
These Nuggets — “a bunch of zombies” Daigneault called them — were valiant in
their effort. After changes in leadership. After consecutive seven-game pushes.
But the 68-win Thunder was left with a choice once the series ground down to the bone.
Be yourself or go home. A decision that
looked easier said than done. “I would hate to play a Game 7 like this, an elimination game, and leave anything on the table,” Daigneault said. “You can live with the result when you are who you are. That’s what we did today.”
OPPOSITE: Mad dog reserve Alex Caruso fired up the home crowd with a powerful dunk in the second quarter. Lu Dort swiped the ball from Aaron Gordon and threw it ahead for Caruso and a 37-32 lead. In 26 minutes, Caruso scored 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting with three steals and three assists. SARAH PHIPPS / THE OKLAHOMAN
LEFT: After struggling in Game 6, Jalen Williams bounced back like a Wham-O Superball. He scored 24 points on 10-for-17 shooting with seven assists, five rebounds and a plus-35 rating, tops among the starters. SARAH PHIPPS / THE OKLAHOMAN
ABOVE: OKC’s All-Defensive first-teamer Lu Dort picked up Minnesota superstar Anthony Edwards far from the basket to keep him under wraps in Game 5. To score his 19 points, Edwards fired up 18 shots, 11 of which he missed, including failing on six of his seven attempts from beyond the 3-point line. In 38 minutes, same as Ant-Man, Dort scored 12 points with four rebounds and three steals. NATHAN J. FISH / THE OKLAHOMAN
OPPOSITE: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hung on for a joy ride after a pivotal dunk in the first quarter. Alex Caruso knocked the ball from Minnesota’s Julius Randle and rushed with it down the court. Instead of dunking, Caruso waited for SGA, who was trailing the play. His mighty two-handed slam put the Thunder ahead 11-3. After Randle scored the game’s first points, the Thunder went on an 11-0 tear. BRYAN TERRY / THE OKLAHOMAN
THUNDER 111, PACERS 104
With 20 points in vital Game 4 comeback, Caruso goes from cult hero to superhero
ALEX CARUSO ALREADY HAS cult-hero status sewed up with the hustle and the headband.
But these NBA Finals should have us thinking bigger. More grandiose. More gravitas. The Thunder veteran has been so important — and never was he more critical than in Game 4, a 111-104 comeback that salvaged the series and the season — that the cult hero is becoming more of a superhero.
So, is there a character he thinks appropriate?
“We’ll just do Robin,” he said, a twinkle in his eyes, “because that’s the only one I can probably make some similarities to and because I got better players around me that are doing more.”
Now, that first part is right. Caruso has lots of Robin qualities. The wiry builds. The cerebral approaches. But players doing more than Caruso? Difficult to see that.
“If you want to win basketball games,” Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said, “you have a guy like that on your team.”
On a night the Thunder rallied from a double-digit deficit in the third quarter and outscored the Pacers by 14 points in the fourth quarter, Oklahoma City not only regained home-court advantage in these Finals but turned this into a best-of-three series with two of those games at Paycom Center.
Securing the biggest victory in franchise history took contributions from lots of players. SGA scoring 15 points in the last five minutes of the game. Lu Dort fighting over screens and setting the tone in the fourth quarter. Chet Holmgren finding himself switched onto guards repeatedly in the final frame and getting misses. Jalen Williams staying aggressive and getting to his spots.
than Caruso.
Being blue-collar?
Sticking his neck into the fight?
Caruso has made a career out of those very things.
“He’s a competitive monster,” coach Mark Daigneault said. “He’s proven that time and again over his career, certainly in these playoffs.”
He has been so good in the postseason that we’ve figured time and again that he had reached peak Caruso. A plus-minus of plus-30 without taking a single shot against Memphis? Surely, nothing will top that.
Then came 20 points and five 3-pointers in the opener against Denver.
And the plus-40 performance when he guarded Nikola Jokic in Game 7.
And the kibosh he helped put on Julius Randle in the Western Conference finals.
“What makes Alex very good is that he’s able to figure out what we need and be that,” Williams said. “Makes big shots. Obviously, defense speaks for itself. He’s just really smart. He’s kind of like our fill-in.
“He does a really good job of seeing what the game needs and then doing it at 100%, which is hard to do since he’s like 100.”
Williams snickered. Caruso might be the old guy in the Thunder locker room, but no one was more respected than the 31-year-old.
“He’s just our glue on that end of the floor,” Williams said.
Everyone knew about Caruso’s defense, but in Game 4, the Thunder wouldn’t have won without his offense.
With the Thunder offense struggling to find its footing in the first half, Caruso helped stabilize. A drive that netted a floating bank shot and free throw. Another drive and floating bank. A steal that created an easy JUNE 13, 2025 W
But in a blue-collar, dogfight of a game, no one was any more important
And another 20 points in that massive Game 2 victory against the Pacers in the NBA Finals.
OPPOSITE: Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso were fired up with a vital victory — and the game ball — in hand. The Thunder trailed by double digits late in the third quarter and by four points with three minutes to play. A 12-1 OKC run at the end evened the series. KYLE TERADA / IMAGN IMAGES
JENNI CARLSON
The Thunder led by as much as 18 before Indiana did the Indiana thing and severed the lead. It got as close as two points at 95-93 with 8:30 to play. Then Williams drilled a 25-footer that started an avalanche.
It snowballed through steal after steal, six for the Thunder in the fourth quarter. Enough transition fury to bury T.J. McConnell’s nightmare-inducing 18-point uproar. Enough to guarantee that Tyrese Haliburton, noticeably limping after missing all six of his attempts, never rose to the moment.
Game 5 lived a life unlike the remainder of the series. Oklahoma City, weighed down thus far by its lack of ball movement and scarcity of 3-point attempts, shot and made more 3s than the ever-chucking Pacers — it was 14 of 32 from deep.
Its typical turnover-thriving identity fled for the better part of four games. Game 5 was closer to regular-season dominance as OKC forced 22 turnovers and scored a series-high 32 points off them. Williams — handsy, overbearing, precise — was at the center of that.
“Great force,” coach Mark Daigneault said. “I mean, that’s the word.”
There isn’t one Daigneault has tied to Williams more. “J-Dub” and “force” have been interchangeable, for better or worse. Early this season, when questions remained whether the budding star could realize his potential, whether he could be the right hand Shai Gilgeous-Alexander needed to hoist the Larry O’Brien, Williams struggled to impose his will.
His rim numbers were abysmal. Free throws were a foreign concept. He quarreled with officials. He pleaded for ways to transcend the midseason plateau that
seemingly threatened OKC’s title hopes. He squeezed out basketball blackheads for the sake of being camera-ready in these Finals.
“There’s times earlier in the season where he had some ugly plays, ugly games, trying to establish the type (of) force you saw tonight,” Daigneault said. “I complimented him back then. But he’s trying to make an All-Star team. He’s an All-NBA player this season. He’s got an individual career that he’s ambitious (about).”
In the 10 games since the Thunder tipped off the Western Conference finals, Williams had averaged 24 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists, all while shooting 40% from 3 on 4.5 attempts.
Eruptive drives, and-ones that send chills through the Paycom Center congregation. Sound familiar? Why not?
Westbrook’s spirit, at the very least, lived in the fire Williams projected in his screams. That piercing look their victims received when the at-rim damage was done.
But living up to the last regime was not where Williams exhaled. He would like to be immortalized for doing what his predecessors never could, and for what his detractors questioned he was capable of — not simply being a game away from it.
“I know he’s not satisfied by this performance,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Yeah, he works hard. He played well tonight
because of it. It’s no fluke.”
ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt sat across from Williams at midcourt postgame. He peeled back at Williams’ exhaustion. Williams circled a later date when asked about Game 5, his moment. Now wasn’t the time to revel.
“Having fun?” Van Pelt quipped.
“I am,” Williams shot back, an awkward smile following.
“All business,” Van Pelt determined. Maybe under champagne showers, and only then, will Williams crack that boyish smile at the player he had become in these playoffs. He’s willing to wait at least one more game.
OPPOSITE: A sign of the times: Jalen Williams acknowledged that he just splashed another 3-point shot. During his 40-point night, he shot 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. During the playoffs, he had made at least that many triples only two other times. NATHAN J. FISH / THE OKLAHOMAN
LEFT: To the consternation of Indiana’s Obi Toppin, Williams shared a 3-point celebration with the courtside fans at Paycom Center. “It feels like the court is shaking when we’re here,” Williams said. “They give us that boost we need.”
SARAH PHIPPS / THE OKLAHOMAN
RIGHT: With the game tied at 16 and 5:15 left in the first quarter, Tyrese Haliburton dashed across midcourt on the left side. Twice he tried to drive only to have Shai GilgeousAlexander halt his progress. When Lu Dort blocked Andrew Nembhard’s path in the lane, the ball went to Obi Toppin in the corner and then back to Haliburton high on the left side with nine seconds to shoot. SGA ran from 15 feet away to confront him again. An instant before his arrival, Haliburton took a step back with his right foot — the leg with the sprained calf — and when he pushed off, he stumbled forward and crashed to the court. The ball rolled to Alex Caruso, who tossed it ahead to SGA, who flipped it to Jalen Williams for a dunk and an 18-16 lead with 4:55 left. Haliburton screamed in agony and pounded his fist on the court. His Achilles tendon had been torn.
BRYAN TERRY / THE OKLAHOMAN
the seven games that Indiana pushed Oklahoma City to in the NBA Finals, but also the final game.
Even after Pacers standout Tyrese Halliburton went down with an injury in the first half — it was later determined to be an Achilles tendon tear — Indiana pushed and pushed and pushed. It turned a first-quarter deficit into a halftime lead. It kept the Thunder within arm’s length
for much of the third quarter.
But then late in the frame, the Thunder paired defensive stops with a flurry of baskets. Two from Cason Wallace. Two from Williams. One from Isaiah Hartenstein. And it built a double-digit lead.
The lead ballooned to 22 points in the fourth quarter, and even though the Pacers kept coming, because of course
they did, drawing within 10 points, the Thunder had done enough to secure the victory, the title and the trophy.
The mountain had been scaled. Again.
But the first time, the summit was reached.
The view had never been quite like this.
ABOVE: Chet Holmgren followed up his miserable Game 6 with a standout Game 7 highlighted by five blocks, including this rejection of Bennedict Mathurin in the fourth quarter. Holmgren scored 18 points on 6-for-8 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. NATHAN J. FISH / THE OKLAHOMAN
From profound to profane: OKC relishes parade and rally for city’s first champions
JOEL LORENZI | JUNE 24, 2025
BELIEVE AARON WIGGINS’ CONviction. His bottled-up defiance, which spilled into the microphone without the aid of liquid courage — that would come later — and into the veins of the Thunder faithful.
He didn’t practice his speech of champions. This blurb instantly destined for immortality, a toast that would warm the hearts of Vikings. He sought the words earlier that morning, when the Thunder boarded its ceremonial bus to Paycom Center, aiming for something that might resonate. The words left his mouth but weren’t his alone. He translated the heartbeats of those in the building who endured what he did and more.
From his lips to Oklahoma City’s ears, this place could no longer be denied.
“My rookie season we won 24 games. Twenty-four games,” Wiggins told the masses after the Thunder’s championship parade. “But the best part about
coming from that year is that the same people in this arena today, celebrating this championship, were there when we were winning 24 games.
“It was a point where they tried to call us ‘the black hole of the NBA.’ But four years later, when they mention the Thunder organization, when they mention Clay Bennett, when they mention Sam Presti, when they mention Mark Daigneault, and every single one of you in this arena — they gotta mention you as NBA champs.”
Before the sun rose, Oklahoma City lined the barricades outlining Walker Avenue. By the time it beamed, water bottles hot to the touch and pavement sizzling, thousands shed pounds in sweat. They waited hours to share this moment, even if brief.
Large families and those solo. Young, babbling fans and wrinkled ones.
A snake rested in a cart outside the Omni. A proper cowboy, with tattered suede boots, sat atop a horse amid the Scissortail Park crowd.
There were vintage Sooners tees. So,
so many Sooners. There was a Buc-ee’s umbrella. A hand-drawn poster of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s fall SLAM magazine cover. A Josh Giddey shirsey. A couple retroed Oklahoma City Hornets jerseys. There were thousands more of the members of this championship team, from Dillon Jones to Jalen Williams.
This morning, they all woke up fulfilled.
The team that proudly played for them during a title season could speak for them, too. Triumphant. Chests out. Don Julio equipped. Their last day at work was the conclusion of the NBA season.
And the coronation of a city that’s long felt deserving of gold.
Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shared the gratification with everyone possible. Midway through the parade downtown, he hopped off one of the team’s buses to walk the streets in his signature gold Converse.
He waltzed shirtless, his shorts to his shins and a Canadian flag tied
around his waist. He gripped a blue flag donning the Thunder’s logo, proudly raising it like an Olympic torchbearer, waving the way to Oklahoman bliss.
He lifted children. He borrowed phones for selfies. He pinned fans to his breast in a sweaty embrace. He let them palm the Larry O’Brien Trophy, their hands patting the trophy like a goldendoodle.
A man of the people. His people. Marching through his streets, a path he earned by sticking with them through 20-win seasons and the anguish of rebuilding, only to later help lead the way to one of the quickest organizational turnarounds in NBA history. Without the blockades, these thousands might have parted his path like Moses and the Red Sea.
Jalen Williams, days after his alleged first sip of alcohol, hit the ground running. He left Paycom Center with bottles of Moet and tequila in one hand, “feeling good, feeling loose.”
Later, the Larry occupied that hand as he prompted the Scissortail crowd to
OPPOSITE: With the Larry O’Brien Trophy held high, Jalen Williams basked in the championship glory as his bus rolled through the streets of downtown Oklahoma City. For his attire, he donned a T-shirt with an image of Kobe Bryant wearing a crown and wore Bryant’s Adidas shoes. BRYAN TERRY / THE OKLAHOMAN
the shortcomings of the first potential dynasty, didn’t refuse the title that Holt so freely passed along.
Gilgeous-Alexander was who allowed them to scream from the mountaintops. To stand atop the globe, even if the braggadocio was only this potent for the next calendar year.
What SGA and his Thunder brought home lasts forever. A victory that allows it to fill Oklahoma City’s streets with unabashed glee. That golden, 30-pound representation of belonging.
As the afternoon neared its end, Jaylin Williams took the stage seemingly with the blood-alcohol level of Homer Simpson and the crowd control of Steve Austin. His words, more profane than Wiggins’, held the same pride.
“They said we was too young,” Williams shouted. WHAT?
“They said Oklahoma shouldn’t have a team.”
WHAT??
“But guess what?”
WHAT???
“We the (expletive) champs!” That much was undeniable.
RIGHT: Jalen Williams, with a nod to NBA legend Kobe Bryant, walked among the fans during the championship parade.
BRYAN TERRY / THE OKLAHOMAN
OPPOSITE: With their phones pointed for a video or photo to treasure, Thunder fans awaited the arrival of the championship buses in downtown Oklahoma City on June 24, a steamy Tuesday morning.
SARAH PHIPPS / THE OKLAHOMAN
