The Oklahoma City Thunder are NBA Champions!

April 23rd, 2019 is a day that I am sure many Thunder fans want to forget, just like July 4th, 2016.  When Damian Lillard buried the Thunder with a 37-footer to end OKC’s season it signaled an end of an era for the Thunder, and the start of a rebuild, that was really fast, really effective and has now won an NBA Championship.

Let’s go back further than Lillard’s shot.  The 2012 Oklahoma City Thunder were in the NBA Finals but were overmatched by the Big 3 Miami Heat.  That offseason, the team traded James Harden to the Rockets in what was a deal that defined that era of OKC basketball.  After a Russell Westbrook injury derailed the 2013 Thunder, the team in 2014 would head to the Western Conference Finals before running into the eventual champion Spurs, who were not going to be stopped.  A 2015 injury to Kevin Durant’s foot that cost him all but 27 games, killed that season for the Thunder.  The 2015-16 team was, to me, that team's best chance to win the title.  After knocking out the 67-win Spurs in 6 games, OKC was going to play the 73-win Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.  You know how the rest of that story goes.  After taking a 3-1 lead, the Thunder would lose the next 3 games and then would lose Durant to those very same Warriors that summer.

The 2016-17 season for the Thunder was defined by Russell Westbrook’s MVP season and how he was the first player to average a triple double since Oscar Robertson.  After being knocked out by Harden’s Rockets in 5 games, the Thunder would add Paul George (read my story about that trade) and Carmelo Anthony to help out Westbrook.  Those moves netted the Thunder one more regular season win and one more playoff win.  Anthony would not return to the team the next season but George would.  The 2018-19 Thunder won 49 games in the regular season and would be ousted by a dagger three by Lillard.  That would send the Thunder into their next rebuild.

The Thunder benefitted from 2 players saying they wanted to play with their stars.  Kawhi Leonard told the Clippers to get Paul George and James Harden told the Rockets to get Russell Westbrook.  Trading those guys netted them, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chris Paul, Danilo Gallinari, 7 first round picks and 4 pick swaps. 5 picks and 2 swaps from the George trade and 2 picks and 2 swaps from the Westbrook trade.  The Thunder reset and in the process traded for a future league MVP.

The 2019-20 Oklahoma City Thunder were one of the most fun teams in the league.  In the shortened season due to COVID-19, the Thunder won 44 games, good enough for 5th in the Western Conference.  Led by offseaPaul, SGA, Gallanari, hold overs Steven Adams and Dennis Schroder, the Thunder found an undrafted rookie in Lu Dort to be their 5th starter that season.  Gilgeous-Alexander broke out for that team.  After showing some flashes as a Clipper his rookie  season, Shai averaged 19.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game on that team.  They were led by their guard play that season as SGA, Paul and Schroder were dynamite and the Thunder were +26.5 points per 100 possessions in 401 minutes with those three guys on the court.  The Thunder took the Westbrook and Harden led Rockets to a 7th game and nearly won game 7, in a game Dort had 30 points.  However, a James Harden block on Dort ended those dreams and OKC was eliminated by the Rockets.

That offseason the Thunder tore that team down, trading Paul to the Suns, Schroder to the Lakers and Adams to the Pelicans while letting Gallinari leave as a free agent.  They didn’t get anything too significant for those players, the 2025 76ers pick, now 2026 due to protections, was their biggest acquisition of the summer.

The 2021 and 2022 Thunder were not good. They went 22-50 during the 72 game 2020-21 season and 24-58 during the 2021-22 season.  SGA was awesome during those seasons during the 91 games he played.  He averaged 24.2 points, 5.9 assists and 4.9 rebounds during the two seasons and everyone knew that the Thunder were the sleeping giant of the NBA.  They had a ton of future picks and a guy who looked like he could level up and become one of the best players in the NBA.  The 2022 draft was a night that changed the course of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

After drafting Josh Giddey with the 6th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, the Thunder went into the 2022 draft with the 2nd and 12th picks after they jumped from 4 to 2 in the lottery.  With the 2nd pick they drafted Gonzaga center Chet Holmgren.  Holmgren has become the defensive anchor for the Thunder and is such a key piece to one of the best defenses we have ever seen.  With the 12th pick they drafted Santa Clara 2-guard Jalen Williams.  Williams became the number 2 option behind Gilgeous-Alexander and had an awesome Finals.  It has to be one of the best drafts in NBA history considering what the Thunder walked away with that night and how it directly led to a championship.

The 2022-23 Thunder were a very fun team.  They went 40-42 and finished 10th in the west but everyone knew where this was headed.  After just 2 seasons, they were no longer at the bottom of the basement of the NBA.  SGA had his big breakout season, averaging over 30 points per game and making All-NBA first team.  Williams finished 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting after averaging 14.7 points per game.  Josh Giddey also had a very good season averaging 16.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game.  However, Holmgren missed the entire season with a foot injury.  The Thunder won their first play-in game, outlasting the Pelicans in a 123-118 win, SGA had 32 points while Giddey had 31 points as they led OKC to the win.  They then got their doors blown off in the 8th place game by the Timberwolves, 120-95.  However, the seeds had been planted and the Thunder would make a massive jump during the 2023-24 season.

The 2024 Thunder came into the season with mixed reviews.  I thought they would be at the bottom of the west playoff chase while others thought they would be a good team.  Whether you were high or low on that OKC, I don’t think anyone saw what happened coming.  Just 2 seasons after going 24-58, the Thunder went 57-25 with the number 1 seed in the Western Conference.  Shai had another huge season but Williams broke out averaging 19.1 points per game.  The Thunder went into the playoffs with some questions.  After sweeping the Pelicans in round 1, OKC would have their answers after round 2.  The first question was about their rebounding.  The 2023-24 Thunder were one of the worst rebounding teams in the league and it came back to bite them in the playoffs as the Mavericks got every loose ball rebound throughout the series.  The other question was about Giddey and if he could be a legit playoff player.  That answer was a hard no as Giddey was played off the floor by Dallas.  His inability to shoot and play defense make it very hard for him to be productive without the ball in his hands.  With SGA on the team Giddey wasn’t going to have the ball in his hands.  The Thunder would lose to the 5th seeded Mavericks in 6 games and head into the offseason with a lot of questions.

This past summer the Thunder addressed their biggest weaknesses by trading Giddey for Alex Caruso and signing Isaiah Hartenstein to a 3-year deal.  Caruso has been the perfect fit for the Thunder off of the bench.  He has filled every need that Giddey did not.  An elite defender, good catch and shooter on threes, the Thunder got exactly what they needed by trading Giddey for Caruso.  Hartenstien, meanwhile, has given the Thunder a lot more lineup versatility and improved rebounding.  They came into the season as one of the favorites to win it all and when the season started they showed everyone why.  A 68 win regular season with the greatest regular season point differential of all-time the Thunder came into the postseason looking ready to hoist the trophy.  There were some moments that made you worried, the Denver series and the Finals both went 7, but they would get it done.  For the first time since they moved to Oklahoma City, the Thunder are the NBA Champions.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been through a lot before winning the championship.  Maybe not the players on the team but the fans and Sam Presti have seen a lot of heartbreaking losses in their day.  Now, they are champions.  Congratulations to the Thunder and their fans!