Thunderstruck! OKC Climbs the Mountain

Daniel Waddleton

Jun 23, 2025

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"I know what I signed up for when I signed a 5‑year extension…and I don’t think we’re gonna be losing for much longer. I believe in this team."

Those were the words of a 23-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, during an 2022 interview with Andrew Schlecht on the Down to Dunk podcast.

Schlecht was inquiring whether Gilgeous-Alexander -- with the Thunder coming off back-to-back sub-25-win seasons -- had ever given thought to wanting out of Oklahoma City amidst all the losing he’d endured since arriving.

"I believe in the players we have on this team. I believe we are heading in the right direction."

Three years later, his belief turned into a banner.

The Oklahoma City Thunder captured the 2025 NBA Championship last night, defeating the Indiana Pacers in a hard-fought seven-game series and capping off one of the most impressive seasons in NBA history.

The Pacers hung tough for as long as they could, especially after the unfortunate injury to their star point guard Tyrese Haliburton early in the first quarter, which forced him to miss the remainder of the game.

The score was tied at 56–56 in the third quarter, and even after falling behind by 22 in the fourth, Indiana looked like it was gearing up for one final miracle comeback when they cut the lead to 10 with just under two minutes remaining.

Unfortunately for these Cinderella Pacers, the clock finally struck midnight.

The Thunder finish the year 84–21 across the regular season and playoffs. Their .800 winning percentage officially ranks as the 11th-best in league history -- and only the 2016 Warriors and 1996 Bulls, considered by many to be the two greatest teams ever, have won more total games in a single season.

They also broke the all-time record for regular season point differential, finishing at +12.9 -- surpassing a record that had stood for over half a century by the 1971–72 Los Angeles Lakers.

They were able to reach these heights on the back of a defense that will have a case as the greatest of all time. In an era where defending has never been harder -- with the floor spaced beyond what we thought possible and every player immensely skilled -- the Thunder became the pioneers of defense catching up in the basketball arms race.

Oklahoma City’s -6.9 relative defensive rating this season led the league by a wide margin and, according to the Thinking Basketball database, would rank 13th since 1955.

Throughout the postseason, it was their defense that consistently served as their calling card when they needed it most. When the season felt like it was hanging in the balance -- like in Game 4 in Denver or Game 4 in Indiana -- their defense tightened the screws, clamped down, and choked the opposing offense out.

In their two game Game 7s, they held their opponents -- the Nuggets and Pacers -- to their lowest point totals of the entire postseason.

This defense’s superpower was their ability to play team defense unlike anything you’ve ever seen -- thanks to elite personnel, incredible attention to detail, and an unrelenting drive to be great. As Anthony Edwards put it after facing them in the Western Conference Finals:

He’s not kidding when he says this. You can see it on full display during a defensive possession in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The Pacers appear to have created an offensive advantage after a guard-to-guard screen followed by a flare screen that initially appears to catch both Cason Wallace and Chet Holmgren off guard.

But instead of a breakdown, the Thunder execute a “triple switch” before you even realize what’s happened. The 7'1" Holmgren seamlessly switches onto Aaron Nesmith in space. Lu Dort rotates from the weakside corner to tag the rolling Myles Turner, while Wallace sprints out to the corner to take away an open Andrew Nembhard.

What looked like a Pacers advantage ends in a turnover, perfectly encapsulating the defensive harmony that defined this Thunder run.

And yet as good as a defense is, you can’t win on that side of the ball alone, just ask the 2005 Detroit Pistons. The Thunder were going to need some offense to bring home a title, and whenever they needed it most, they turned to ol’ reliable: their 1A superstar Gilgeous-Alexander.

He may have believed in the pieces around him during that September 2022 interview, but a huge reason for the success that followed was his own self improvement. The season after those words, SGA bumped his scoring average from 24.5 points per game to 31.4 -- with a 7% jump in true shooting percentage. Over the past three seasons, he’s averaged 31.4, 30.1, and 32.7 points per game, earned three straight All-NBA First Team selections, and this year, claimed the league MVP.

However, at the end of the day his ultimate legacy wouldn’t come down to regular-season success, he would have to deliver on the biggest stage. In this postseason, Gilgeous-Alexander came through every time his team needed him.

Games 5–7 against Denver in Round 2? 32.7 points, 5.7 assists, 70.6% true shooting.

Game 4 in Minnesota? 40 points and 10 assists to take a commanding series lead.

Game 4 in Indiana? 35 points on 50% shooting to even up the series.

Game 7 of the Finals, with a championship on the line? 29 points and 12 assists.

It wasn’t just the scoring either. His growth as a playmaker over the years showed when teams loaded up on him throughout the playoffs. He was also a main cog in that all-time-level defense, especially with his defensive playmaking, averaging 2.5 stocks (steals + blocks) per game.

And maybe more important than anything, he was the Thunder’s steadying force. He never panicked when things got tough. He stayed level-headed, and that calm spread down the roster in the biggest moments. This team never felt fazed, and it all stemmed from their leader. A more then deserving finals MVP.

Following the final buzzer, when the Thunder were officially atop the mountain they had worked so hard to climb, Gilgeous-Alexander was asked what the moment felt like.

“It doesn't feel real,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So many hours. So many moments. So many emotions. So many nights of disbelief. So many nights of belief. It's crazy to know that we're all here, but this group worked for it. This group put in the hours, and we deserve this.”

That same word: belief. That’s the story of this championship. A front office that believed in their vision to rebuild the roster following the Durant-Westbrook era. A fanbase that believed the dark days of the early 2020's would pass. A group of players that believed this team was capable of becoming more than the sum of its parts, capable of achieving something no one in an OKC Thunder uniform had ever done before.

Every player on this team will now live in basketball immortality -- forever an NBA champion.