By Michael Kinney
It was not the way the Oklahoma City Thunder envisioned their season coming to an end. Giving up a 17-point halftime lead and their best player (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) being called for a last-second foul that helped seal a victory for the Dallas Mavericks was not on the Thunder itinerary last week.
However, that is what happened when Oklahoma City fell 117-116 in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinal to No. 6 seed Dallas Saturday. The Mavericks won the series 4-2 and moved on to the Western Conference Championship to play No. 3 seed Minnesota while Oklahoma saw their title run come to a dramatic end.
Yet, less than 24 hours after the season-ending loss, the Thunder were doing their best to look on the bright side of what they had accomplished throughout the past eight months.
“I think above all it was just very fun,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I think that’s where it all starts. Like every day you come to work where it doesn’t feel like work. You come to work, and you try to excel individually and as a group. When you have so much fun, it makes everything else easier. It kind of clouds all the bad stuff because you’re having so much fun. So that’s what I’m like most proud about and most grateful for, how fun this group has been and how much this group has like taken the ease off of all the pressure and stuff that gets heavy.”
While the 2023-24 campaign could be seen as a showcase season for Gilgeous-Alexander, who earned runner-up in NBA MVP voting, it was the same for the Thunder. Their list of accomplishments includes being the youngest team to ever earn the top seed in the postseason.
“In the moment it kind of sucks. Everybody probably feels like we left a lot on the table, and I think that’s a really good thing,” said guard Jalen Williams. “My first year, we had like a really average year and kind of got bounced out before even kind of getting into the playoffs. So to have the year we had now and be disappointed is kind of a really good thing that we did. It’s something we’re going to build on and brought us really closer together. You can’t get better with these experiences without having them, so it’s definitely a good thing we were able to kind of go through this together as a group. Especially being young, I think it will serve us really well down the stretch.”
Oklahoma City is set up to make another run at an NBA title in the coming years. Their core players of Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and rookie Chet Holmgren are under contract for the foreseeable future, they are well below the salary cap and are still holding an abundance of draft picks.
However, there are still some questions and issues that need to be addressed going forward. Against the Mavs, the Thunder were beat up on the backboards and were unable to find consistent 3-point shooting and scoring.
The trade for Gordon Hayward was supposed to help with one of those issues. However, the veteran guard didn’t see any meaningful action in the series and left his exit interviews confused about his role.
“Obviously disappointing with kind of how it all worked out,” Hayward said. “This is not what I thought it would be. Certainly frustrating. But kind of it is what it is. I feel like as a player I have a lot to offer. I just wasn’t given much of an opportunity to do that, and I kind of thought I was going to get that opportunity.”
Hayward did go on to say the future is bright for Thunder.
However, history has shown that is not always the case for young and promising teams that come up short in the postseason. The league is littered with squads that were filled with championship potential to only then be hit with injuries, trades, internal conflicts, etc.
Gilgeous-Alexander seems intent on making sure Oklahoma City doesn’t fall into that category.
“I always think you can do whatever you want to do,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “You just have to put the work in. If you put the work in and deserve it, you’ll get it. So if we put enough work in, do the right things, stay together on and off the court, play the right type of basketball, and do what it takes to win a championship, we’ll earn it, and we’ll get a championship. But if we don’t do that, we won’t get it. It’s that simple.”
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