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Why do OKC Thunder players bark in postgame interviews? Jalen Williams explains
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- Why do OKC Thunder players bark in postgame interviews? Jalen Williams explains
Fifteen-year NBA veteran Gordon Hayward couldn't truly be initiated as a Thunder until he went through with it. And in his first active game with the team, the young 20-somethings made it happen.
It's routine now. Its origins are unknown, with little remembrance of how or when it started. It just came with the wins.
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It started as a player — maybe two — crashing an on-camera postgame interview moments after a game. Then, as the Thunder has, it blossomed. Into full bands and lineups of guys crowding an interviewee. Into adlibs and hype men and, sometimes, barking.
And so, after a late February OKC win over the Clippers , the dog pound sounded off before looking to Hayward for the closing remark. It was more woof than bark, more chihuahua than rottweiler. But it was good enough. Hayward was in.
"I don't know, we're random," said sophomore Jalen Williams , asked how the trend started back in January. "It kind of just happens. Whenever we have a win that everybody's excited (about), we usually do something funny. We just be out there joking around. It's just kind of our team. Like it really has nothing to do with the fact that it's an interview."
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Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort (5), forward Jaylin Williams, left, forward Gordon Hayward and forward Jalen Williams, right end a postgame interview after an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Clippers at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. The Thunder won 129-107.
The group act has become an extension of the team's synergy. Of its fiery youth, of its seemingly chemical bond. The halfcourt offense, the alley-oop connections, the drive-and-kick chemistry, crowding an unassuming reporter with a microphone at the end of games. It all blends together.
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There is no order. There's hardly any planning, or any intention to steal the shine from a teammate's spotlight. In late January, days after a monumental road win over the Timberwolves , Jaylin Williams gave a play-by-play of how that game's postgame crowding happened. It began as mindless fun, with Jaylin stealing Jalen from a conversation near the scorer's table. It ended as one of OKC's most memorable postgame moments yet.
"I was like, 'C'mon, let's go mess with Shai's postgame,'" Jaylin Williams said. "And then Chet was walking from the left side, and I pointed to him like 'Come over here,' and it kind of just began."
As Shai Gilgeous-Alexander talked about defense, Jaylin wrapped his arm around Jalen, inviting themselves to SGA's side. Jaylin nodded and Jalen locked eyes with the camera.
"MVP, MVP," he mouthed, pointing to the team's All-Star guard.
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Then entered Holmgren , who nodded aggressively and listened intently. Jalen leaned into the frame, squinting as if to hear every word Gilgeous-Alexander uttered. Then, SGA sensed an overbearing presence. Jalen was caught. For a moment, Gilgeous-Alexander broke out of his mature, annoyed older brother act.
"Just felt the kids behind me making noise," Gilgeous-Alexander said later. "They can never behave. I don't know, I might have to take it up with them."
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Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) talks in the post-game interview with Nick Gallo as teammates Jalen Williams (8) and Jaylin Williams (6) look on Friday night.
Gilgeous-Alexander has often been the recipient of the interview being crashed. He's become a hot commodity with his MVP-level play, typically the draw of both local and national broadcasts. Strangely, he's also somewhat of an elder statesman — yes, even as a 25-year old — as one of the few who were around before the rebuild and have long been old enough to legally drink.
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He's earned a level of ownership in the rise of a team that, despite firm contention for the Western Conference's first seed, admittedly looks like and exudes the energy of an AAU team. The vibrancy, the inclination for a few members to be almost chronically online.
Gilgeous-Alexander leads more by example than anything. Perhaps by way of his character, perhaps because some of the things he's already endured in the NBA would age anyone.
But the Thunder hasn't needed him to display any youthful jubilance. That energy is seen elsewhere.
If no one else, Jalen and Jaylin remain common culprits in the postgame frenzy. Jaylin with a perpetual, glowing grin. Jalen with his overemoting and occasional mischievous smirk. Holmgren might unknowingly be the trend's originator, consistently seen undergoing his postgame interviews with a teammate under his rangy arm.
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They're all in the middle of it, reeling each other in. All the time.
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"I feel like we also know there's something special, because we're the youngest team in the NBA," Jalen Williams said. "To have everybody around the same age, I think helps with our vibe. So if you want to say young, we have a very young vibe. … It is definitely probably a different dynamic and I don't want to speak for other teams, but every team probably thinks their team is special in some way. I think us all being the same age probably brings us a little closer than most teams."
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Close enough that, despite their ever-apparent youth, wins have piled up. From 10 to 20, from 30 to 40. From last year's win total of 40, which resulted in a play-in appearance, to surpassing that around this season's All-Star break. Their desire to be attached at the hip and their forged paths that leave them quite literally growing up together have leaked onto the court.
From the ashes of low-20 win teams has emerged baby-faced embodiments of confidence and a shared excitement for what's brewing in Oklahoma City . It's birthed tradition.
So much so that the players leap to each other's sides, bark over each other's words, and pitch award cases — even after the buzzer sounds. A movement so strong, they even got the old man to do it.
"We win together, we lose together, we struggle together," coach Mark Daigneault said. "They just do everything together. And that's a beautiful thing. Including when it's struggle, and when we're knocked down.
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"They stay in character on that pretty consistently."
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder postgame interviews with Nick Gallo full of antics
