Oklahoma City Thunder - From Westbrook's MVP title to the NBA title Oklahoma City Thunder is an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder is a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at the Paycom Center. The Thunder is the only team in the major North American professional sports leagues based in the state of Oklahoma. The team, originally known as the Seattle SuperSonics, was formed in 1967. In their 41 seasons in Seattle, the SuperSonics have made the playoffs 22 times, and the franchise's accomplishments include winning their division six times, winning the Western Conference three times, and winning the NBA championship in 1979. Westbrook's MVP season stats included: Points average: 31.6 Rebounds average: 10.7 Assists average: 10.4 Total triple-doubles: 42 (a then-record) In the 2017 NBA draft, the Thunder selected shooting guard Terrance Ferguson with the 21st pick and signed him to a four-year rookie-scale contract. To bolster and improve Westbrook's supporting cast, the Thunder's front office made a series of aggressive moves to reshape the team. On July 6, 2017, the Thunder acquired four-time All-Star forward Paul George in a trade with the Indiana Pacers for forward Victor Oladipo and power forward Domantas Sabonis. The team then signed veteran point guard Raymond Felton and power forward Patrick Patterson as free agents on July 10. On September 25, the Thunder acquired ten-time All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony from the New York Knicks in exchange for center Enes Kanter, forward Doug McDermott, and a 2018 second-round draft pick they had previously acquired from the Chicago Bulls in the Cameron Payne trade. On September 29, 2017, the Thunder signed their star point guard Russell Westbrook to a five-year extension. The Thunder finished the 2017–18 season with a 48–34 record and lost to the Utah Jazz 4–2 in the first round of the playoffs. In the 2018 NBA draft, the Thunder selected shooting guard Devon Hall with the 53rd pick and forward Kevin Hervey with the 57th pick. Following the draft, Hall played for the Thunder in the 2018 NBA Summer League. On August 12, 2018, Hall signed with the Cairns Taipans of the National Basketball League in Australia. Hervey signed with the Thunder's NBA G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue. Additionally, the Thunder traded a 2019 second-round pick to acquire 2019 Slam Dunk Contest winner and Shanxi Loongs of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) shooting guard Hamidou Diallo, who had been drafted by the Brooklyn Nets with the 45th pick. Diallo signed a three-year contract with the Thunder. On July 6, 2018, Paul George re-signed with the Thunder. In July 2018, the Thunder traded forward Carmelo Anthony and a protected 2022 first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-way trade. In the trade, the Thunder acquired German forward Dennis Schröder from the Hawks and French power forward Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot from the Philadelphia 76ers. The Thunder also acquired point guard Deonte Burton, signing him to a two-way contract with the Oklahoma City Blues. Additionally, the Thunder acquired center Nerlens Noel in free agency and traded him for Boston Celtics power forward Abdel Nader. The Shai Gilgeous-Alexander era General manager Sam Presti traded Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers on July 10, 2019. In return, they received Danilo Gallinari , Shai Gilgeous-Alexander , and a record number of future first-round draft picks. It was reported after the trade was announced that George had privately requested the trade to the Clippers because Kawhi Leonard had convinced George to join him on the Clippers. They also traded forward Jerami Grant to the Denver Nuggets for a protected 2020 first-round pick. Following the George trade, general manager Presti felt the future of the franchise was in jeopardy, as the team could not seriously compete with Westbrook as the lone star. On July 16, the Thunder traded Westbrook to the Houston Rockets. In return, the Thunder received Chris Paul, two future first-round draft picks, and the rights to two future draft pick swaps with the Rockets. Paul was selected to the 2020 NBA All-Star Game as a reserve, making it his 10th pick and first since 2015–16. Following the suspension of the 2019–20 NBA season, the Thunder were one of 22 teams invited to the NBA bubble to play in the final eight games of the regular season. The Thunder were eliminated in 7 games by Paul's former team, the Houston Rockets. After the season, Billy Donovan's contract was not renewed and both sides agreed to part ways. On November 11, 2020, Mark Daigneault was promoted from assistant coach to become the new head coach. Before the start of the 2020–21 NBA season, Chris Paul was traded to the Phoenix Suns for Kelly Oubre Jr., Ricky Rubio, two additional players, and a 2022 first-round draft pick. Oubre, Rubio, and several Thunder veterans from the 2019–20 season, including Steven Adams, Dennis Schröder, and Danilo Gallinari, were also expected to be traded in the coming days, with the Thunder receiving draft picks as part of the compensation in most of those transactions. Overall, the Thunder executed 14 separate trades after the end of the 2019–20 season and before the 2021 trade deadline. Five-time NBA All-Star Al Horford was one of the players acquired before the season. After one season, he was also traded for four-time All-Star Kemba Walker, with the Thunder acquiring first-round draft picks in both transactions. As of the summer of 2021, the Thunder have accumulated 36 total draft picks over the next seven years, 18 in the first round and 18 in the second. In the 2021 NBA draft, the Thunder drafted Josh Giddey, Alperen Şengün, and Tre Mann with their first-round picks. Şengün was then traded for two future draft picks. On August 6, 2021, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander signed a 5-year, $172 million max contract extension. On the same day, the Thunder waived Kemba Walker after he agreed to a buyout. On May 1, 2021, the Thunder lost at home to the Indiana Pacers by 57 points, 152–95, the largest regular-season home loss in NBA history. During the following season, on December 2, 2021, the Thunder lost on the road to the Memphis Grizzlies by 73 points, 79–152, the largest loss in NBA history. In the 2022 NBA draft, the Thunder used their second overall pick to select Chet Holmgren and their twelfth pick to select Jalen Williams. On August 25, 2022, it was announced that Holmgren would miss the entire 2022–23 NBA season due to a Lisfranc injury to his foot that occurred during a pro-am game (a sporting event where professional and amateur athletes compete). A Lisfranc injury is a foot injury in which one or more metatarsal bones are dislocated from the tarsus. The injury is named after Jacques Lisfranc de St. Martin, a French surgeon and gynecologist who noticed this fracture pattern among cavalrymen in 1815, following the War of the Sixth Coalition. The War of the Sixth Coalition was the military alliance of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and some German states against Napoleon Bonaparte's French Empire. The coalition succeeded in overthrowing him and forcing him into exile on the Isle of Elba. In the 2022–23 season, the Thunder finished the regular season with the 10th-best record in the Western Conference, qualifying for the play-in tournament. After defeating the New Orleans Pelicans in their first play-in game, the Thunder lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves and missed the playoffs despite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander averaging 31.1 points per game. In the 2023–24 season, the Thunder acquired former All-Star Gordon Hayward. Chet Holmgren returned from injury and made an immediate impact as a rookie, Jalen Williams improved, and Gilgeous-Alexander made his second All-Star appearance and would later finish second in MVP voting. On March 31, 2024, against the New York Knicks, the Thunder officially clinched a playoff berth with a 113–112 victory—their first playoff berth since the 2019–20 season. The Thunder finished with a record of 57–25, securing the top seed in the Western Conference for the first time since 2012–13. Mark Daigneault won Coach of the Year as the Thunder defeated the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round, becoming the youngest team to win a playoff series with an average age of 25. But they would lose to Luka Dončić's Dallas Mavericks in six games, despite being up 17 points at one point in the series-clinching sixth game. Their first move of the offseason was to trade starting forward Josh Giddey for Chicago Bulls forward Alex Caruso. Isaiah Hartenstein was also signed as a backup to Chet Holmgren, who was entering his second year. The Thunder signed Nikola Topić, Dillon Jones and Ajay Mitchell to rookie contracts as the Thunder entered the 2024-25 season with high expectations. After 10 games of solid performance, Holmgren suffered a rare hip injury that was announced as a potential out for at least eight weeks, and Hartenstein was already out. After missing the first 15 games of the season, Hartenstein returned on November 20, 2024. Even without Holmgren, the Thunder defeated the Houston Rockets to advance to the NBA Cup Finals. They faced the Milwaukee Bucks, but lost the game 97–81. Despite this loss, the Thunder achieved their longest winning streak in franchise history, setting a record 15 consecutive wins. The streak ended when they lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were on a 10-game winning streak. It was the first time a team on a 15-game winning streak played a team on a 10-game winning streak in NBA history. Mark Daigneault was selected as the head coach of one of the teams in the 2025 NBA All-Star Game. Shay Gilgeous-Alexander was selected to his third consecutive All-Star Game and second consecutive start, and Jalen Williams made his first All-Star team as a reserve. On March 27, 2025, in a 125–104 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, the Thunder set the record for wins in a season at 61, breaking the previous record of 60 wins set by the franchise in the 2012–13 season on a 37-point game by Gilgeous-Alexander and a double-double by Hartenstein. They finished the season first in the league with 68 wins. After sweeping the Memphis Grizzlies on May 8 against the Denver Nuggets, the Thunder scored 87 points, breaking the record for most points in the first half of an NBA playoff game. The previous record of 86 points was held by the Cleveland Cavaliers, set during the 2017 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. In May 2025, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named the NBA MVP, becoming the third player in franchise history to receive the award, and was also named to the All-NBA first team, while Jalen Williams was named to the All-NBA third team. The Thunder advanced to the NBA Finals and defeated the Indiana Pacers in seven games to win their first NBA champioship. Alex