"Nobody forced their way here via trade. They didn't win the lottery" - Windy calls the OKC Thunder's title win a "pure championship" originally appeared on Basketball Network .
The Oklahoma City Thunder's championship win this season is a breath of fresh air. While most powerhouse teams are formed through blockbuster trades and high-profile free agent signings, the Thunder have taken a different approach. Led by their young core of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander , Lu Dort , Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams , they have built their team through smart draft picks, player development, and tactical acquisitions.
According to veteran ESPN broadcaster and journalist Brian Windhorst , this conquest is as pure as it gets. In an interview with Scott Van Pelt, not long after OKC emerged victorious over the Indiana Pacers in Game 7, he described his immediate reaction, including his mixed emotions over how things unfolded for Tyrese Haliburton .
For most of the 2010s, the Thunder were a powerhouse squad led by Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook . However, when the franchise decided to take another path and parted ways with All-Star Paul George in July 2019, little did the organization and its fans know they would receive the player leading them to championship glory: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
As the Canadian guard continued his development, the Thunder remained busy and patient, drafting Holmgren and Williams in 2022 before acquiring defensive stalwart Alex Caruso and versatile big man Isaiah Hartenstein last offseason. By then, they had all the pieces to make a run at the title and did not disappoint.
Led by Gilgeous-Alexander's elite scoring and playmaking abilities, Holmgren's inside-outside presence and Williams' do-it-all game, the Thunder quickly established themselves as a dominant force in the league. They breezed through the regular season with ease, finishing with a league-best 68-14 record.
And although they received their fair share of challenges in the postseason, they ultimately delivered the title Oklahoma City had been pining for since the team moved there in 2008.
"This is an organic championship for the Thunder. They built this team from scratch. They were down to nothing. They drafted these guys. They developed these guys," Windhorst stated . "Nobody forced their way here via trade. They didn't win the lottery. They did this through grit and hard work."
"They were great from the first moment, the day of the season. They earned this thing all the way through," he continued. "They are a pure champion doing it for the first time. Even if they win two or three more championships with this group, nothing will feel as pure as this."
Windy, though, couldn't shake the negative vibes from the Achilles injury Indiana Pacers whiz Tyrese Haliburton suffered seven minutes into the game. He shared that as he watched the Pacers climb to within 10 after trailing by 22 in the fourth quarter, he felt that had the 6'5" point guard been in the game, he might have pulled out one last rabbit from his hat.
"They won the game in the third quarter with a classic Thunder run, with turnovers and the flurry and everything, but as the fourth quarter is happening and I'm watching the Thunder go through this dry spell, and the Pacers get the lead to 10, I'm thinking, if they had Haliburton, that this is going to go down to it," the soft-spoken media member stated.
"I hate it when anybody puts an asterisk on this, because this is a celebration not only of tonight but of the full season, the full build, and everything like that," he added.
Make no mistake: the Thunder earned this title the hard way. Injuries can happen whether in the preseason or the penultimate game of the season. And as much as it hurts, it's a part of the game.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 23, 2025, where it first appeared.
