Thunder on brink of NBA title it dared not mention all year: 'Winning is all that matters'

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INDIANAPOLIS — Curse words are tantalizing to the adolescent ear. Only one seemed off-limits inside the youthful walls of the Thunder's facilities this season.
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Championship, and the frequent use of all of its synonyms — title, ring, Larry O.B. — almost seemed taboo, prompting cupped hands over shrinking ears. La, La, La, La. Those words wouldn't be very zero-and-zero of Oklahoma City, grounded in its daily work and incremental improvements. Working toward tomorrow, not June.
Only now, tomorrow is Game 6, a chance to reel in the franchise's first title Thursday night in the biggest game of its 17 years. Who would this team be if not true to its gospel?
'We want to win the game tomorrow,' began coach Mark Daigneault on Wednesday, 'but the most important thing we need to do to win the game tomorrow is prepare today and prepare tomorrow and play the first possession really well, then the next possession, then the next possession.
'That's how we try to approach a game. How we try to approach the playoff series. How we try to approach every single day and let that win the day. If you do that, you can put your head on the pillow that night and know you gave it everything you have.'
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MUSSATTO: How an NBA title would solidify legacies of Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) signals to his teammates in the fourth quarter during Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Pacers at Paycom Center on June 16. OKC is one win away from its first NBA title.
To enter the year assuming the shape of this Thunder squad, a No. 1 seed in the West last season without Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein, was off the table for general manager Sam Presti. It's a possibility, he distinctly underscored, that Oklahoma City could look like a contender. Not a probability.
'There's so many different possibilities to how a season can go, and we have to accept that those possibilities could go into what you're talking about, a contending level team,' Presti said in September. 'That doesn't have to go that way.
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'There's probably more ways that it could go the opposite. If we take our eye off the ball — I don't want to start referring to ourselves or thinking of ourselves like that, but we're certainly capable of doing that.'
Oklahoma City didn't enter this season breathing NBA Finals air, not perverted or shaped by years of playoff agony like Boston. The lack of postseason losses never saw the Thunder reach a point where its core was threatened to be separated like Denver.
This culture it built, laser focused on the micro, allowed it to live in a unique space. So clearly aiming to be a team capable of things as lofty as a title, aware of its subjection to championship expectations, and yet not subjected to daily internal pressure about reaching this very moment.
Even when its offseason acquisitions paired with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's blooming MVP campaign made the team feel like a juggernaut, among the most successful regular season teams in NBA history. Even when it became clear that Chet Holmgren could return to capable form, and that a lack of centers couldn't suppress this group. Even when it won 68 games.
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There were gestures, like Caruso showing-and-telling with his 2020 ring, a cut and fitted reminder of what the team was chasing. He was perhaps the one with the filthiest potty mouth, spewing phrases like 'to win it all,' and 'to be the best team in the world.' He kisses his title ring with that mouth.
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There were hints, like media-posed questions outlining the team's championship qualities. Like the internet graphics that aligned Gilgeous-Alexander with past great guards, and the tweets that made it clear the historical company the Thunder was joining every few games or so. This chronically online team ingested all of that.
The Thunder, at its best, was better than the field. Perhaps even tiers better. It always understood, it just hardly verbalized it in order to get here.
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'We understood the opportunity we had from the beginning of the year,' Caruso said. 'We understood how much time we had. We understood we needed to get better, but we had a chance.'
Caruso later added: 'Maybe we fast tracked it. Maybe everybody didn't expect us to get to this point first year (together). But that's what hard work and competitive spirit does.'
Just over a day before the Thunder's shot at a title tips off, Gilgeous-Alexander flowed between his shooting spots on the Gainbridge floor. He trotted across the court, snapping his wrists as Sade's soothing vocals narrated his movement. Jalen Williams flashed his smile in a quarter zip seemingly one size too small, whispering jokes into assistant Eric Maynor's ear. Daigneault funneled all reflective questions into platitudes about his focus on Game 6.
Thursday's game isn't like any other, Hartenstein admitted. But it's late June, and the scenes from OKC practice looked like mid-February.
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Gilgeous-Alexander has yet to feel truly triumphant.
'The cusp of winning is not winning,' Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'The way I see it, winning is all that matters. It hasn't been fulfilled.'
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Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams (8) celebrates a 3-point basket in the second half of Game 5 of the NBA basketball finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Monday, June, 16, 2025.
He's is trying not to daydream this week, a day and some midrange jumpers away from completing one of the most decorated individual seasons in recent memory. If he ever does — his bite securing a cigar, his hand clutching the Bill Russell trophy — the bubble above his head pops.
'Ultimately I'm just trying to stay in the moment,' SGA said. 'I think that's what's gotten me here. That's what has helped me achieve the MVP award, achieve all the things I've achieved. It's helped this team win basketball games. Trying to stick to that script and focusing on winning basketball games.
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'This is me personally, (but) trying to picture what it's going to look like or feel like, for me it's kind of pointless. Honestly, I try to make it an emphasis not to do so.'
On Thursday, Gilgeous-Alexander's Thunder will share a roof with Larry O'Brien. Goggles will be assembled with OCD precision. Champagne will await in boxes. The franchise's compounding sentiments leading to this moment — months of talk about stacking days and hours, practices and film sessions — should feel overwhelming. Like a sumo wrestler sitting on their chest.
Maybe it is. But this moment feels most appropriate for the Thunder's ability to reset. From the outside, its propensity to refer to Game 6, to choose to remain here and not in champagne showers, paints a team ready to finally stack a ring. It just won't look up to realize it unless the confetti falls.
Don't worry about this young Thunder crew swearing up a storm prematurely.
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Joel Lorenzi covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joel? He can be reached at [e-mail] or on X/Twitter at @joelxlorenzi. Sign up for the Thunder Sports Minute newsletter to access more NBA coverage. Support Joel's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder on brink of NBA title it dared not mention all year long