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New York Times
9 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Thunder's road to 2025 NBA title: A series of ahead-of-schedule jumps
OKLAHOMA CITY — The longest and most emotional embrace during the 15-minute trophy ceremony for the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder came when general manager Sam Presti spotted team owner Clay Bennett from across the stage and the two met in the center. Bennett first interviewed Presti in 2007, so impressed with the young executive that he made Presti, at 29, the youngest general manager in the league and delivered him a level of autonomy rare for a lead basketball decision-maker. Presti jumpstarted his first rebuild that summer. The franchise was still in Seattle. Advertisement Eighteen years later, Presti is a veteran executive — the third-longest tenured lead decision-maker behind only Pat Riley and Gregg Popovich — with a flush résumé that now, finally, includes an NBA championship. Bennett, meanwhile, still remains the silent supporter, persistently praised internally because of his financial backing and lack of basketball meddling. He hires well and stays out of the way. Presti and Bennett shared an extended hug next to commissioner Adam Silver, the two architects who have been around the longest and are credited most for this build. Then Silver handed Bennett the trophy, he quickly handed it over to the players and immediately stepped off the stage and into the background, declining to take the microphone. Presti was the first to speak. He kept it short and almost appeared bashful when acknowledging the swiftness of a title for this particular core, the youngest finals team since 1977. 'This just kind of unfolded very quickly,' Presti said. Presti was committed to the patient rebuild ever since he hit the eject button on the end of the Russell Westbrook era. In his biannual state of the franchise news conferences, he continually delivered memorable quotes about the need to embrace the slow but organic process. 'Shortcuts cut long runs short,' Presti said in 2021. 'I'm not trying to dismiss everyone's excitement, but we're not a .500 team,' Presti said in the 2023 preseason. 'We have to finish our breakfast before we start acting like we're on the cusp of something.' But the Thunder went from 40 to 57 wins in 2023-24, becoming the youngest one-seed in history. They leaped again this season to 68 wins, the best point differential in NBA history and a dream season capped with a title, all before most of their rotation players have entered the front side of their prime. Advertisement Presti and Bennett set out to slow build, but the players they acquired and drafted sped up the process, beginning with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the combo MVP and Finals MVP who capped his season with a 12-assist night in Game 7, solving the last haymaker that Rick Carlisle's Indiana Pacers defense threw at him. 'At the end of the day that's going to go down in history as one of the greatest seasons that's ever been had by a player,' Chet Holmgren said of Gilgeous-Alexander. 'It's amazing to be a part of that, to witness somebody going through it, succeeding in so many different ways … I'm so happy that we were able to put a shiny cap on what he did this year.' Jalen Williams is the co-star whose third-season elevation bumped this core over the top. He struggled in the second-round defeat to the Dallas Mavericks in the previous playoffs and spent the next year sharpening and adding to his offensive game. He made All-Star, All-NBA and just wrapped up a playoffs where he averaged 21.5 points, including a 40-point Game 5 in a had-to-have-it finals moment. 'Jalen Williams is a once-in-a-lifetime player,' Gilgeous-Alexander said while trying to hand him the Finals MVP trophy during the ceremony. 'Without him, his performances, big-time moments, shot-making, defending and everything he brings to this team, we don't win this championship. This is just as much my MVP as it is his.' Holmgren fractured his hip during the 11th game of the regular season. He was bedridden for six weeks and missed 50 games, feeling detached from the action and success for months. But he recovered in time to catch enough of a rhythm to deliver in a playoff run where he averaged 29.7 minutes and didn't miss a single game. In the title-clincher, Holmgren set a Game 7 finals record with five blocks. 'I'm proud of the guys for holding it down when I was hurt,' Holmgren said during an emotional moment of his news conference. 'I got to give big props to big (Isaiah Hartenstein) and especially (Jaylin Williams). They came in and held things down when I was hurt … A lot of things changed for them personally, individually, when I came back. So I have to give them all the credit in the world. They never expressed any sour feelings about it. They never stepped outside of the team about it. They were all-in no matter what it took. I'm just so happy to have guys like that in our big man room that are so selfless. Advertisement 'Back to my injury,' Holmgren continued. 'It sucked. If you told me this would be the end point when I got hurt, it would be easy not to quit. But this isn't guaranteed. That's why only one team gets to do it every year. So I'm so happy I didn't quit. There were a lot of nights where I was out there on willpower and anti-inflammatories. I'm just so happy I didn't quit and we made it. We did it.' Presti completed the championship core with two shrewd moves this past summer, flipping Josh Giddey for Alex Caruso — who had a handful of massive playoff sequences — and using the leftover cap space to lure Hartenstein away from the Knicks. Those two veterans added different dimensions to a young core that needed more on-court versatility and off-court leadership. Caruso is now a two-time champion and, as the Thunder organization settled into its first post-title celebration late Sunday night, he had to teach them how to pop champagne bottles. 'None of us knew how to do it,' Hartenstein said. 'We were asking AC how to do it. It was not really in sync because no one really knew how to do it.' 'We didn't do it all at the same time until the third try,' Caruso said. 'I tried my best when we got in there. 'All right, let's get a head count, make sure everyone is here before we do the first one.' 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. We went through the process a couple times and 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.' That's as close as anyone on the Thunder would get to indicating an expectation of a repeat.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
The Thunder had one more opponent after winning the NBA title. The champagne corks were formidable
Clay Bennett, center, chairman the ownership group of the Oklahoma City Thunder, celebrates with players in the locker room after winning the NBA basketball championship with a Game 7 victory against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Clay Bennett, center, chairman the ownership group of the Oklahoma City Thunder, celebrates with players in the locker room after winning the NBA basketball championship with a Game 7 victory against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jaylin Williams celebrates with teammates in the locker room after winning the NBA basketball championship with a Game 7 victory against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Oklahoma City Thunder players celebrate in the locker room after winning the NBA basketball championship with a Game 7 victory against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander celebrates with teammates in the locker room after winning the NBA basketball championship with a Game 7 victory against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander celebrates with teammates in the locker room after winning the NBA basketball championship with a Game 7 victory against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Clay Bennett, center, chairman the ownership group of the Oklahoma City Thunder, celebrates with players in the locker room after winning the NBA basketball championship with a Game 7 victory against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Clay Bennett, center, chairman the ownership group of the Oklahoma City Thunder, celebrates with players in the locker room after winning the NBA basketball championship with a Game 7 victory against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jaylin Williams celebrates with teammates in the locker room after winning the NBA basketball championship with a Game 7 victory against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Oklahoma City Thunder players celebrate in the locker room after winning the NBA basketball championship with a Game 7 victory against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander celebrates with teammates in the locker room after winning the NBA basketball championship with a Game 7 victory against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma City Thunder had just won the NBA championship, the on-court ceremony was over and they were heading to the locker room to start the party. This typically includes the traditional spraying of champagne all over everyone and everything. And the Thunder were ready to partake in all that. Advertisement 'Where's the champagne at?' some yelled on their way into the room. It was ready. Problem was, the Thunder were not. See, the Thunder are young, the youngest NBA champion in nearly a half-century. And, well, it turns out that most players had absolutely no idea how to pop the corks. 'None of us knew how to do it," center Isaiah Hartenstein said, revealing that some players — yes, moments after winning the NBA title — were going onto YouTube in search of tutorials for how to make the bubbles fly. Enter Thunder guard Alex Caruso, who has already won an NBA title. The oldest player on the team, at 31, showed everyone how to get it done. And eventually, they got it right. Advertisement 'We didn't do it all at the same time until, like, the third try," Caruso said. "I tried my best.' In time, they all figured it out. It was the last lesson of many this season for the Thunder, who finished with 84 wins — tying for the third-most in NBA history. And the team could have all of its key players back next season; they're all under contract. So, if the Thunder find a way to go back-to-back, Caruso expects the locker room celebration to go a bit more smoothly in 2026. 'We'll get some rest, reset, try to go again next year and see if we can do it again," Caruso said. "We'll be better. We'll be better next year.' ___ AP NBA:
USA Today
29-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Please stop using SuperSonics' history like it belongs to the Thunder
Please stop using SuperSonics' history like it belongs to the Thunder Excuse me, while I step on my soapbox about one of my least favorite technicalities in sports. (Ahem) Nothing about new reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Oklahoma City Thunder is even tangentially connected to the former Seattle SuperSonics. Not a single damn thing other than the fact that the Thunder used to reside in the Pacific Northwest hub before a hasty move to the Sooner State spurred by owner Clay Bennett's boundless greed for a shiny, new publicly-funded stadium. Not one thing. Note: To be clear, this is not a sanctimonious rant about Seattle losing its NBA team. That's a separate discussion altogether. So, as we get ready for these precocious Thunder to host the 2025 NBA Finals, here's my plea to any would-be sportswriters, sports announcers, social media editors, what have you. If the Thunder do wind up winning the title, and it sure looks like they probably will, please, PLEASE refer to this as the first championship in Thunder franchise history. In a just world, it should not be labelled as their "first title since 1979," which you may have heard a lot in recent weeks during the Thunder's playoff run. You know, 1979, a.k.a. when they were referred to as the SuperSonics ... in Seattle. Lenny Wilkens' and Dennis Johnson's champion 1979 SuperSonics are Seattle's history. Their lore belongs to the memories of Seattle fans, past, present, and future (maybe?). That should stay with them while these Thunder, who have now qualified for their second Finals appearance since moving to Oklahoma City in 2008, are allowed to write their own story with their passionate local fans charting all of their accomplishments to remember for years to come. Along those lines, it is frankly gross and disrespectful to the memory of the SuperSonics, all of their fans, and the Thunder, who, at this point, couldn't be any more distanced from their old city and supporters. I know this problem is born from a loose technicality where sports leagues like the NBA transfer over team history to franchises that skip town. It happened in the NFL with the Baltimore Colts when they became the Indianapolis Colts, and later when the Cleveland Browns became the Baltimore Ravens (before the Browns returned). It happened in MLB when the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals. It'll also likely happen with the Athletics, assuming they ever actually do make a clean break from Oakland. Maybe it's an issue of deciding where to keep a franchise's extensive database when it moves cities. This feels solvable by no longer archiving that history for the new city or by suspending operations outright rather than continuing a charade. But I digress. Pretending a sports team's history stays with an organization when it uproots itself from a community doesn't sit right with me. Because that's not what this whole sports obsession thing is all about. No reasonable person from Oklahoma City watching Gilgeous-Alexander and Co. ruthlessly dismantle their competition even associates the Thunder with Seattle anymore. They are too far gone and have experienced too much success in a short time in their no-longer-new digs. The Thunder have their own moments of brilliance, heartbreak, and joy that exclusively belong to the people in Oklahoma now. And no reasonable person who reveled in the 1979 Sonics and the later glory days of Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton in the 1990s can make a connection to the unrecognizable Oklahoma City version. It's not their jerseys, their arena, their players, or their team. It's not a pillar of their community. It just isn't. The Thunder and the SuperSonics, as we knew them, are two entirely separate entities with two entirely separate histories only merged together by one of the more painful happenings Seattle sports fans have ever experienced. That's it. Please, for my sanity and both of these fanbases' sakes, let's stop pretending any sort of connection remains.
Washington Post
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Thunder storms into NBA Finals, leaving broken Timberwolves in its wake
OKLAHOMA CITY — The polite reaction to what unfolded Wednesday night in America's heartland would be to salute the Oklahoma City Thunder for reaching the NBA Finals and to gloss over the gory details of how it happened. This was, after all, a long-awaited coronation for a small-market marvel. Oklahoma City's 124-94 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals returned the franchise to the Finals for the first time since 2012 and avenged a heartbreaking West finals loss to the Golden State Warriors in 2016. Thunder owner Clay Bennett and General Manager Sam Presti, who have guided the organization since its controversial relocation from Seattle in 2008, wore proud smiles during a trophy presentation after the series-clinching win at Paycom Center. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City's MVP point guard, clasped his hands together to acknowledge the 'Loud City' faithful. The other Thunder players bounced with joy to celebrate their latest emphatic victory. '[My teammates] make the NBA not feel like a job,' Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'We have so much fun being out there together. This isn't the end of the road. We didn't start the season saying we want to win the West. We want to win the NBA championship. We're one step closer.' But telling the full story of the Thunder requires closely examining the Timberwolves, who were reduced to a broken and dysfunctional mess in the series clincher. Knowing that Minnesota's season was on the line, Oklahoma City played with unforgiving focus from the outset that bordered on sadistic. The Thunder didn't just beat the Timberwolves, it robbed Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle and company of their will to compete. In what was ostensibly a feel-good moment, Oklahoma City was so ruthless it was hard not to come away feeling bad for Minnesota. Still feeling the pain of a devastating last-second defeat in Game 4, Minnesota showed up Wednesday in body, but not mind or spirit. The Timberwolves were cooked midway through the first quarter, they trailed by 33 points at halftime, and they pulled their starters with more than six minutes left in the game. Fittingly, Edwards didn't even wait until the final buzzer to offer a congratulatory hug to Thunder Coach Mark Daigneault. Less than 10 days ago, the Timberwolves swaggered into Oklahoma City fresh off playoff series wins over the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors with the goal of bullying Gilgeous-Alexander and upsetting the top-seeded Thunder. After three blowout losses in cowboy country, the pitiful Timberwolves simply wanted to get out of Dodge. '[The Thunder] came ready to play and we didn't,' Edwards said. 'When you lose a game like this, there isn't really too much to break down. They dominated the game from the tip. We lost. I can't think about how close I might have gotten [to the Finals]. They punched us in the face, and we lost the game and lost the series.' Gilgeous-Alexander posted 34 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in just 34 minutes to earn Western Conference finals MVP honors, applying the finishing touches to a series he dominated. Afterward, Gilgeous-Alexander said he wanted to close the series in five games because he 'didn't want to go back to Minnesota travel-wise.' Whether he meant to sound so dismissive or not, Gilgeous-Alexander dispensed with the Timberwolves on the court with a few easy flicks of his wrist. Though Game 5 featured another heavy dose of Gilgeous-Alexander's silky shooting, Thunder guard Alex Caruso provided the signature moment. After being knocked to the court by a hard foul from Naz Reid, Caruso cranked out several push-ups on the spot, popped to his feet with an ear-to-ear grin and egged on the home crowd. 'Go ahead,' Caruso seemed to be saying. 'Hit me again.' The Timberwolves folded instead. Edwards, harassed by the Thunder's many skilled perimeter defenders, was just another bystander during the early onslaught. Randle, overwhelmed by the Thunder's pressure all series, seemed to spend most of Game 5 frantically looking around for the basketball after committing yet another turnover. Minnesota managed just nine points in the first quarter. By halftime, the Timberwolves still had more turnovers (14) than made baskets (12). Edwards, who compiled most of his 19 points and six rebounds after the game had already been decided, tossed up three air balls on a night to forget. '[The Thunder is] like 15 puppets on one string,' Edwards said. 'They're super handsy. They pluck at the ball all night. They pressure the ball and get you out of your comfort zone. They're a really good team. Everyone here knows it. It's no surprise.' For the second straight season, the 23-year-old Edwards ended on a down note in the Western Conference finals. The three-time all-star, who was outplayed by Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic last year, averaged 23 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists against the Thunder, but he shot just 28.2 percent on three-pointers and committed 3.2 turnovers per game. '[Edwards has] got to learn to play against that physicality and that type of holding all the time,' Timberwolves Coach Chris Finch said. '[The Thunder] made it really hard for him. For a lot of the series, he did make the right play. We preach that to him all the time. We need him to be aggressive, for sure. He's got to find some easier buckets. I've got to help him do that. We were never able to establish something consistent with him.' The Timberwolves weren't any better defensively. Gilgeous-Alexander got wherever he wanted on the court, dancing past Jaden McDaniels on the perimeter and dicing up Rudy Gobert once he reached the paint. Jalen Williams (19 points, eight rebounds and five assists) and Chet Holmgren (22 points and seven rebounds) encountered little resistance, and the Timberwolves had no interest in making the extra-effort plays that are necessary to win at this late stage of the playoffs. Worst of all, the Timberwolves died as they lived: incessantly moaning to the officials. While Minnesota lacked the heart to keep up with Oklahoma City for more than five minutes, it somehow found the lung capacity to keep whining deep into the fourth quarter despite a deficit that topped out at 39 points. These troubling signs — Edwards's shrinking, Randle's perpetual confusion, the Timberwolves' collective persecution complex — are all testaments to the Thunder's ability to exhaust and chew up opponents. Oklahoma City's staggering portfolio will loom ominously in the lead-up to Game 1 of the Finals against the Indiana Pacers or New York Knicks on June 5. Across the regular season and postseason, Oklahoma City has an 80-18 record, a 43-7 home record and 61 double-digit victories. During this playoff run, the Thunder has amassed a sparkling plus-10.8 average margin of victory, including four wins by at least 30 points. And don't forget: Oklahoma City went 29-1 against Eastern Conference teams during the regular season, including sweeps of both the Pacers and Knicks. Perhaps that's the only consolation for the Timberwolves: They weren't the first team to tap out against the Thunder, and they might not be the last. 'We had it all going,' Daigneault said. 'The focus through the distraction of a closeout game to go to the Finals is what was most impressive. We were laser focused. That allowed our best to come to the surface. This is such a fun team. We're happy we're going to the Finals, but I don't want it to end. I don't want to stop coaching this team.'
