OKC erase hiccups with title

(News4usOnline) – The Oklahoma City Thunder did what the franchise failed to do when it had three future Hall of Fame players on its roster: win the NBA championship. 

The Thunder, behind the play of Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, got the best of the Indiana Pacers, winning the title in seven games. 

“Feels amazing,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the Thunder defeated the Pacers, 103-91. “So much weight off my shoulders. So much stress relieved. No matter what, you go into every night wanting to win. Sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. Tonight could have been one of those nights where we found a way. So proud of this group. Wouldn’t want to do it with any other group in the world. Feels good to be a champion.”

The @okcthunder are the 2024-25 NBA Champions! pic.twitter.com/EsPIcjgVFx

— NBA (@NBA) June 23, 2025

Winning four games in a seven-game series for the NBA championship is an achievement by Gilgeous-Alexander was able to do that the scoring triplets Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden were not able to do when they occupied uniforms as members of the Thunder. 

Harden played three seasons for OKC before heading to Houston, now the team that Durant will be suiting up for in the upcoming 2025-26 NBA season. 

Durant gave OKC fans eight glorious years, but left the organization with no rings. Although he picked up two championships with Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors, Durant has bunny-hopped from team after another with the Rockets being the latest landing spot for the four-time Olympic gold medal winner.     

As for Westbrook, the mercurial point guard just might be regretting his decision to leave the Thunder. In his first 11 seasons in the NBA, Westbrook helped put the Thunder on the notoriety map when it came down to bringing a national audience to the team’s games. 

Westbrook won an MVP and became the darling face of the midwest team. That time frame seems like ions ago. While he is still a top-notch playmaker, Westbrook is at the back end of his career. And still title chasing. 

Westbrook was sensational as the one-time fearless leader of the Thunder. But he, like Durant and Harden, all came up empty in the title department when they played for the Thunder. That’s kind of hard to imagine. 

Westbrook, Durant and Harden did manage to guide the Thunder to an NBA Finals appearance against LeBron James and the Miami Heat. 

The dynamic trio came up short, losing in five games (4-1) to James and the Heat. Essentially, it was a blowout by the Heat. Durant, Harden, and Westbrook were never able to lead OKC back to the NBA’s highest perch. 

What would @shaiglalex caption this? pic.twitter.com/HNVN3cYTMl

— NBA (@NBA) June 23, 2025

And for a while, the Thunder became a team that consisted of a bunch of also-rans and nobody-knows-who-they-are players. Getting back to the NBA became almost an afterthought. But when the Thunder made the trade to get Gilgeous-Alexander from the Los Angeles Clippers, their fortunes and their future began to change. 

In order to get the promise of a young Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder had to give up Paul George, who by the way, is no longer with the Clippers and is currently occupying space somewhere with the Philadelphia 76ers.   

Though he showed plenty of potential when he played for the Clippers, Gilgeous-Alexander has blossomed into the new face of the NBA and its top player after leading OKC to its first title. 

“As a kid, you dream. Every kid dreams,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But you don’t ever really know if it’s going to come true. I’m just glad and happy that my dreams have been able to come true. That’s a “thank you” to everyone that’s been in my corner that helped me get there. Wouldn’t have been able to get here without them. They know who they are.”

As for Westbrook, unfortunately, he has not even come close to sniffing a title. After exiting OKC, Westbrook has been on the traveling circuit around the league, bouncing from one team to another. He’s played for the Rockets. He’s donned the uniforms of the Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Denver Nuggets. 

And yet he seems he cannot figure it out when it comes down to capturing an NBA crown. On the other side of that coin, Gilgeous-Alexander, who played his rookie season for the Clippers, appears to have found out the winning formula. 

Since he left the Clippers, the scoring trajectory of Gilgeous-Alexander has gone up every year, from 19 points a game to averaging just over 32 points this past season. The Oklahoma City Thunder were the best team in the NBA throughout the 2024-25 regular season. 

Gilgeous-Alexander was the league’s best player. Collectively, OKC and Gilgeous-Alexander pulled it together to bring a title to their fans.    

“We prioritize winning,” remarked Gilgeous-Alexander. “We don’t prioritize anything else in this game. We want to win and we want to win on the highest level. That looks like something new every night, every opponent, every arena. That’s all we focused on this whole season, no matter if it was Game 1, Game 45, Game 105. We prioritized winning. Because we did so, we won on the highest level.”