The Oklahoma City Thunder are the defending NBA champions. They also have the fifth-youngest roster in the NBA.

That combination can spell doom for the immature. Even veteran title teams succumb to what Pat Riley termed “the disease of me” — players start thinking about themselves, their touches, their points, and how much money they make or should make. The unselfish ethos that won a team a ring starts to fade. So does the chance at another.

Oklahoma City does not give off that vibe as it gears up to defend its title, starting Sunday.

“I think that’s what makes us so good, is that we have so many unselfish guys,” Jaylin Williams told NBC Sports. “Nobody is like, when you know a guy’s out, nobody’s stepping in thinking, ‘Oh, I’m gonna get 25 shots tonight because somebody’s out.’ You’re thinking, ‘Oh, I’m gonna go in there and do whatever the team needs me to do to get the win’…

“Everybody’s just going out there and playing the game that we’re supposed to play. I think when you have a team that’s so unselfish like that, it makes you an even better team.”

Don’t talk repeat

Coach Mark Daigneault has worked to install a “focus on the little things and the big things will come” ethos, something that every coach preaches. Think day-to-day. Build good habits now, and it’s something the team can and will fall back on in the playoffs.

What’s different is that the Thunder players — from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on down — have fully bought in. With that, repeating as NBA champions is not a topic in the OKC locker room. It doesn’t really come up.

“We try not to take it like that,” Lu Dort told NBC Sports about the quest to win back-to-back rings. “I mean, obviously, just from the facts and the truth, we are the reigning champs, but we try to go in there and not even think about that. We still got to beat every team that we go against four times to advance.”
“I wouldn’t look at it as like us trying to be the defending champs going in these nights, like we’re going to these games, just as hungry to win, just like we were last season,” Williams added.

Discussions of “process” and “building good habits” can come off as boring coach speak, but it’s a mantra with the Thunder. Because of that, as a group, they can come off a little like the Tim Duncan-era Spurs — boring day-to-day, no drama, just putting in the work, focusing on the little things, and getting better. Duncan has five rings to show for it.

“I think the first thing for us is just making sure that we’re taking care of our stuff,” Daigneault said. “You know, it starts with how we’re playing, the habits we’re trying to sharpen, what we’re trying to get done. You go through the regular season, there’s different opponents every night that present different challenges, but it always starts between you and yourself.”

Boring? Maybe. Winning? Absolutely.

Continuity and experimentation

Oklahoma City may be young, but they have the kind of roster continuity that is rare in the tax apron era of the NBA. The core of the guys about to chase another ring already won one together. Even players in much larger roles now, such as reserve guard Ajay Mitchell, have been in the system, just not showcased.

“It definitely helps,” Dort said of the continuity. “Just like, we have a lot of the same guys from last season. Sometimes it’s hard to adjust to new guys on the team, just the fact that we got the same core that we had last year, it helps so much, and our team chemistry is just getting better and better and better.”

Even the adversity the Thunder faced this season with key players missing time — Jaylin Williams, Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein, among others — is seen as an opportunity. For Daigneault, it gave him a platform to do something he already wanted to do — experiment with different lineups. Put different combinations of players together.

“We’re actually not a team that wants to find rotational stability in the regular season,” Daigneault said. “We’re trying to constantly create variability, because that gives us some learnings and creates options for us. It also puts the guys in situations where they have to adapt to who they’re on the floor with, which we think is good for their development as players.”

“I think our coaches do a good job of keeping everybody ready for anything that could happen,” Williams said, echoing the idea. “We’re a super detailed team when it comes to different situations that we might not have encountered yet, but we’re always ready for whatever the situation is.”

“I mean, the fact that we’ve seen it before, it’s just a tool that we have in our pockets if something goes wrong,” Dort said of needing to pull out different lineups during a postseason series. “And then in the playoff teams throw a lot of different stuff, and you never know what they’re going to do. So the fact that we have a lot of different options that we can throw out there, so it’s a good thing for us.”

Thunder players also understand that continuity will not be the same in the coming years. Dort, Isaiah Hartenstein and Kenrich Williams all have player options for next season, just as massive new max contract extensions kick in for Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams ($41 million each, to start). Gilgeous-Alexandr has a new max contract starting in the 2027-28 season. The money is about to get tight in OKC, and roster changes will flow from that. The players know they don’t have many more chances with this locker room.

Ready for playoffs

The Thunder may not talk big-picture, but they are, to a man, ready to play games with real weight and meaning again.

They just wouldn’t let that get in the way of the process.

“Of course, just your competitive nature, you want to be back in those big environments, the loud playoff games, where every shot means so much,” Williams said. “But at the same time you can’t skip steps in a process. And that’s something the coaches also instilled in us, and I think our whole team understands that.”

The Thunder did not skip steps, and now they are ready to add to their collection of rings.