From the abyss to the NBA finals in 3 years. The Oklahoma City Thunder went from the 58 losses of 2022 to being the favorites for the ring in 2025. They sacrificed Paul George and Russell Westbrook in 2019 to bet on the future.
Draft elections and talent development, Shai Gilgeous Alexander (NBA MVP), Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, perfect accessories; This is the OKC laboratory.
The Thunder are finalists of the NBA. They sentenced the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday and wait for Indiana Pacers or New York Knicks. They will have field advantage in the finals. The general director Sam led to an arsenal of draft elections and for sustainable growth to rebuild in OKC.
He sent Paul George to the clippers in exchange for Gilgeous Alexander and five ‘picks’ of first round. He received four first round elections and Chris Paul from the Houston Rockets by Russell Westbrook. Paul or Dominican himself to Horford also passed through OKC and ended up leaving, in return Draft Bazas.
On June 5, OKC will step on the stage of NBA finals for the first time since 2012. The re -foundation began in 2019. And it required suffering. In the 2020-2021 season, the Thunder lost 50 games. They suffered the worst defeat in the history of the League, falling 152-79 against the Memphis Grizzlies. In the following campaign, they lost 58. They also had a negative balance in the 2022-2023 season (40-42).
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Sam Presti, El Okc Architect
But far from the spotlights, Sam led his cards. He gave total confidence to Mark Daigneault, who signed as a chief coach in 2020 at age 35. In 2024, the coach was chosen as the best of the season. In the 2021 draft he selected Josh Giddey, in 2022 he chose Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. He formed a young, ambitious, humble and united group.
Williams and Holmgren now form OKC’s ‘big-3’ next to the MVP Gilgeous Alexander. Giddey served as a trick to get to Alex Caruso last summer. A key piece, like the centimeters of the pivot Isaiah Hartenstein, to complete a team determined to go for everything.
The Thunder signed a regular season of 68 wins this year. It was the fifth best mark in the history of the NBA. They did not tremble in the ‘playoffs’. The Memphis Grizzlies overwhelmed in the first round 4-0, bent in seven games the Denver Nuggets of the Triple MVP Nikola Jokic in the second, before dominating 4-1 the finals of the West against the Wolves.
OKC reaches the finals with an average age of 25.6 years. It is the youngest team to reach the series for the title in almost 50 years. Previously, in the 1976-1977 campaign, the Portland Trail Blazers were finalists with an average age of 25 years.
The last time Oklahoma reached the finals dates back to 2012, when it had a star trio formed by Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook. The Miami Heat of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh denied the ring.
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Harden would be the first to leave OKC, to Houston Rockets. Kevin Durant would also go out, to go to Golden State with Steph Curry and, in 2019, the goodbye of Westbrook arrived.
Thirteen years later, the Thunder opt for the Larry O’Brien trophy. They do it with another MVP in its engine, Gilgeous Alexander, and with a sustainable sports project that has everything to complete the work.
With EFE information
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