The long path to building a championship team

New York Times

4 hours ago

Oklahoma City wins its first championship since the team relocated from Seattle Getty Images
The Oklahoma City Thunder have won the 2025 NBA title, beating the Indiana Pacers 103-91 in Game 7. It's the first championship for the team since it relocated from Seattle in 2008, having won one title as the SuperSonics in 1979.
Pacers superstar Tyrese Haliburton left the game during the first quarter after suffering what ESPN reported was an Achilles injury. He was carried off the floor and was very emotional.
Indiana, which has never won an NBA championship, led the game by one point at halftime but was outscored 56-43 in the second half.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named Finals MVP after leading all players with 29 points and 12 assists in Game 7.
The Thunder shot just 40.2 percent from the field and 27.5 percent from 3, but they forced 23 Pacers turnovers which resulted in 32 points at the other end.
GO FURTHER
Thunder win first NBA title since relocating to OKC, hold off Pacers in Game 7 Connections: Sports Edition Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms
The blueprint to the Thunder's 2025 championship started in 2007 2007 - Sonics GM Sam Presti sign-and-trade Rashard Lewis to the Magic for a conditional 2nd-round pick.
2007 - Sonics trade the 2nd-round pick to the Phoenix Suns for Kurt Thomas and two first-round picks.
2008 - Sonics used the Suns' pick (No. 24) to draft Serge Ibaka ... team officially moves to OKC later that year.
2016 - Thunder trade Serge Ibaka to the Magic for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the draft rights to Domantas Sabonis.
2017 - Thunder trade Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis to the Pacers for Paul George.
2019 - Thunder trade Paul George to the Clippers for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, five first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps.
2022 - Thunder use the Clippers' pick (No. 12) to draft Jalen Williams.
2025 - 🏆
Watch the video at the link below for more. Getty Images
Shoutout to T.J. McConnell.
Throughout the postseason, and especially in the NBA Finals, the veteran guard brought a level of intensity and effort that frankly few, if anyone, on the floor could match. Tonight, he scored 16 points in 28 minutes, including 12 straight while this game was still close in the third quarter.
He certainly further endeared himself to the Pacers fans with his play this postseason. Fred Katz / The Athletic
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 'As a kid, you dream. Every kid dreams. But you don't know if those dreams are gonna come true.
'All the achievements and accolades, they don't come close to the feeling of winning with your brothers.' Getty Images
Kyle P.: Well, the Pacers played hard and took it to 7 games. If they just wouldn't have blown game 4 then they wouldn't have had to play in this game and Haliburton never gets injured. Just sucks the way this game ended up turning out, but congrats to OKC.
Drew H.: Pacers never gave up. What a team they had. Happy for the Thunder. Hope all Pacer fans feel super proud of their dudes.
Stephen S.: These two teams were a lot closer than some of the experts want to admit. The Pacers of May-June weren't the same group that went 10-15 to being the year. Congrats OKC, what a ride from this Pacers group.
Michael D.: Never going to be able to convince me the Thunder win Game 7 without the Halliburton injury. This might as well be the Lakers bubble championship. Don't forget the asterisk. Getty Images
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander joins an elite list of players with his Finals MVP award. The Oklahoma City Thunder guard becomes the fourth player in NBA history to win the NBA MVP, scoring title and Finals MVP in the same season.
Below is the list of players SGA joins: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1971)
Michael Jordan (1991, 1992, 1996, 1998)
Shaquille O'Neal (2000)
Gilgeous-Alexander is the first guard to accomplish this feat. He's a quarter of the way to MJ's four instances of winning MVP, scoring title and Finals MVP in the same season. But it once again shows that Gilgeous-Alexander put together one of the best seasons for a guard in NBA history.
A message of congratulations from one of Oklahoma City's former NBA MVPs (and the newest member of the Houston Rockets)...
This game could have got interesting without a critical performance from Chet Holmgren. He scored 18 points on an uber-efficient 6-of-8 shooting, grabbed eight boards and blocked five shots.
Holmgren, who battled through injuries this season, was the anchor of OKC's elite defense. He proved that again tonight.
In April 2022, Sam Presti's Thunder were blown out by 50 points in their season finale vs. the LA Clippers to cap a 24-58 season. Presti met with the media and said he expected the Clippers to win the championship in the near future.
'The Clippers, like I said before, I don't think we're going to be looking at that again,' Presti said of benefiting from an underwhelming Clippers seasons as it related to owed draft capital. 'I think they're going to be the odds-on favorite to probably win the title in the (near) future.'
Three years later., the Thunder are champions.
For a majority of the night, Oklahoma City's offense sputtered. They shot just 40.2 percent from the field and 27.5 percent from three.
As usual though, the Thunder's defense showed up for 48 minutes, forcing 23 turnover and turning those mistakes into 32 points on the other end. Oklahoma City also blocked eight shots, five of which belonging to Chet Holmgren.
No, it was not Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's most efficient scoring output but it was enough to win tonight and the Thunder are now NBA champions.
The NBA MVP and NBA Finals MVP scored 29 points on 8-of-27 shooting and had a playoff-high 12 assists in 40 minutes. He also added two blocks and a steal. Getty Images
Isaac F.: Not a huge Shai fan but it's nice to see him finally show some emotion rather than the cool guy persona he's always putting on.
Gerrit B.: My sympathies to Sonics fans everywhere.
Frank F.: Celtics fan here: Congrats to OKC. You didn't play perfectly but you rose up when the occasion demanded it. Indy: I know it's no consolation, but your fight tonight was inspiring. Good series for the league.
Erick H.: Congrats to OKC - great team and deserving champ. And hats off to the Pacers. Hell of a season and a worthy team who fate was unkind to. Wish your guy Haliburton a speedy and full recovery.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault kept it cool, calm, and concise on the podium — which felt just about right.
'I want to congratulate Indiana on a great season,' he began. 'They were a stiff opponent."
'This was a dream for everybody here at one point in our lives. There was one point where we didn't know if we were going to be in the NBA, from players to staff, the coaches… It's a privilege. We're incredibly grateful for it.'
And the most special thing about this group? Daigneault's answer is swift.
'They behave like champions,' he added. 'They compete like champions. They root for each other's success, which is rare in professional sports. I've said it many times, I'm gonna say it one more time: this is an uncommon team, and now they're champions.'
The Chicago angle: In between Alex Caruso's NBA titles, he played for the Bulls.
He now has NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder. Getty Images Indiana Pacers 746
Oklahoma City Thunder 765
The Thunder made 35 more free throws, had 31 fewer turnovers, three more offensive rebounds and made one more field goal overall through the seven-game series.
The Sonics' sole NBA championship (1979) stayed in Seattle, legally speaking. Their banners and trophies had to stay there as part of a legal settlement between the city and Thunder owner Clay Bennett after he pulled the team out of there.
So this is, by all intents and purposes, the Thunder's first title. Getty Images
I'm not sure we needed more than one or two shots of Clay Bennett celebrating, to say nothing of the city that could have lived with zero.
Chet Holmgren is hyped! He makes it clear that he is proud of his team and proud of himself for his resilience throughout the season. Holmgren missed 50 regular-season games after sustaining a serious injury to his pelvis early in the season.
After his cameo, two-time NBA champ Alex Caruso steps to the mic as he is swarmed by his teammates.
Up on that podium with all the noise and hollering and cheering, Isaiah Hartenstein is holding his small child and the kid is absolutely zonked out asleep.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the first Canadian NBA Finals MVP. He joined Steve Nash as a league MVP earlier this year, but Nash never won a title.