Fresh off winning the NBA championship, Thunder star Jalen Williams reflected on the journey and the journey from being the hunters to becoming the hunted. The moment came in a chat on the ‘Out the Mud’ podcast, when he spoke candidly about his approach going into next season.
“We have a good organization that’s willing to stick with it,” said Williams. “They had some bad years before I was there, but our year wasn’t that bad. So we kind of had the pieces, but we didn’t have Chet yet. Then Chet came in, and now we’re the first seed. That was more the jump than kinda staying down. Everybody in the building was more shocked.”
The Thunder recovered quickly from losing Paul George and Russell Westbrook, hoarding enough picks to build one of the best young cores in the league. However, nobody expected them to start dominating as quickly as they did, and Williams says there was a sharp learning curve.
“We’re beating teams that were beating us by 20 last year. So it was more like, ‘How do we hone this in and get the experience,” Williams added. “It’s not like we’re fourth or fifth in the West, and we’re kinda like the hunted, and nobody was taking us seriously. It was more like ‘How do we mature faster in order to win,’ and I think that Dallas series was where that ‘stay down until you come up’ comes in, because it’s like we know we can be first in the West, but how do we get over that learning curve? That Denver series we had really tested that learning curve.”
The Thunder were contenders with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for years before Durant left and Paul George came in. After that duo failed, the Thunder brought in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and it was the first step that led to their most successful team of all time.
With Shai, Williams, and Chet Holmgren, the Thunder quickly rose in prominence, but they failed to get the job done in 2024, when they lost to the Mavericks in the Western Conference Semifinals. That series not only humbled the young Thunder squad, it taught them what they needed to become more than a regular-season team.
So when OKC came back the next season, they knew how to approach the playoffs and how to respond with their backs against the wall. In the 2024-25 season, they cruised through the Western bracket and beat the Indiana Pacers to win the championship.
For his part, Jalen Williams was leading his troops both on the court and in the locker room, but he was also setting the example while putting up 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game on 48.4% shooting.
To go from a fringe playoff team to champions in three seasons was like whiplash for Williams, and it also took a lot of hard work to expedite the learning curve. Now, going into the next campaign, the Thunder have a new goal: to win back-to-back titles for the first time since the 2018 Golden State Warriors.
This time, with a major target on their back, the Thunder will no longer have the element of surprise in their favor, and teams will be waiting to give them their best. Still, while young, this group is proven, with the chemistry, culture, and talent to establish a dynasty in Oklahoma City.
