Alex Ducas: Geraldton product becomes ninth Australian to earn NBA championship ring as Oklahoma City triumph
Geraldton's Alex Ducas has become the ninth Australian-born player -and the second West Aussie - to win an NBA championship ring after Oklahoma City prevailed in the deciding game of the finals against Indiana.
The Thunder proved too strong in Game 7 with a 103-91 triumph on Monday morning (WA time), sparking scenes of wild celebration on their home court.
Among those on the podium was Ducas, who didn't take to the court in the playoffs but earns a ring after being a part of the squad in their historic season.
Ducas featured in 21 games during the regular season, averaging 1.7 points and 1.2 rebounds per game in a role as a depth guard behind a stacked Thunder rotation led by league and finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The 24-year-old joins three-time Chicago Bulls champion Luc Longley as the only WA products to have achieved title success in the NBA.
Seven other Aussie-born players also boast championship experience: Andrew Gaze (San Antonio, 1999), Patty Mills (San Antonio, 2014), Aron Baynes (San Antonio, 2014), Andrew Bogut (Golden State, 2015), Matthew Dellavedova (Cleveland, 2016), Kyrie Irving (Cleveland, 2016) and Jack White (Denver, 2023).
Ducas attended Geraldton's Nagle Catholic College and played for his hometown Buccaneers before attending Basketball Australia's Centre of Excellence and subsequently heading to college at famous Aussie breeding ground St Mary's in California.
He went undrafted last June but was snapped up by the Thunder after impressing for their Summer League affiliate, paving the way for his championship honour.
The result meant fellow Aussie Johnny Furphy missed out on his own ring as Indiana fell short of an unlikely finals upset.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished off his MVP season with 29 points and 12 assists to help the Thunder recover from a one-point deficit at half-time to romp to victory.
Jalen Williams scored 20 and Chet Holmgren had 18 for OKC, who were pushed to a Game 7 brink in the NBA Finals — but finished off a season for the ages at home.
Oklahoma City won 84 games between the regular season and the playoffs, tying the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls for third-most in any season.
Only Golden State (88 in 2016-17) and the Bulls (87 in 2015-16) won more.
The day was soured by a suspected Achilles injury to Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton in the opening quarter, cruelling the visitors' hopes of an upset win.
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