Here’s What The Thunder Had To Say On Becoming NBA Champions

The Oklahoma City Thunder are NBA champions for the first time in franchise history.

As much as this team has tried to give off a calm, collected vibe throughout the regular season and playoffs, the inexperience and exuberance of youth was on full display after beating the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 to clinch the title.

For starters, they didn’t even know how to celebrate. Having not won a title before, there were some lessons to be learned on how to pop champagne. When center Isaiah Hartenstein was asked about what the scenes in the locker room were like, he explained the importance of having newly minted two-time champion Alex Caruso around.

“First of all, none of us knew how to do it,” Hartenstein said in response to the bottles not being popped when media arrived. “It was more like those YouTube tutorials. We were asking AC (Alex Caruso) how to do it, so it’s not really in a sync because no one knew how to do it. But shouts to AC for teaching us how to pop champagne.”

Hartenstein did make an effort to defend himself, though. He explained when his Lithuanian team won a title, they had celebrated by just drinking straight tequila.

Isaiah Hartenstein explaining that Alex Caruso had to teach them how to open champagne bottles and that’s why the celebration was so brief, why Tim Reynolds asked if he really didn’t know he said: “No, when I won in Lithuania they just drank hard tequila” pic.twitter.com/mf3iTYsJRk

— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) June 23, 2025

Here’s the best of what the Thunder players had to say after winning the championship.

Alex Caruso

Why not start with the man getting the credit.

Caruso is a great NBA story, having had to earn his way to the NBA through the G League. Having established himself as one of the league’s premier defenders, Caruso was acquired by the Thunder last summer in exchange for Josh Giddey.

Over the course of this playoff run, Caruso has defended everyone from Nikola Jokic to Pascal Siakam. He threw in some handy offense along the way and goes down a vital cog in the Thunder machine to get over the line.

He won with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, and Caruso couldn’t turn down the opportunity to crack a joke about those who discredit winning a title in the bubble.

Alex Caruso, all smiles, comparing this Thunder championship to the Lakers’ bubble one:

“Yeah, now I got a real one — now no one can say anything,” pic.twitter.com/7UqYub4SDQ

— Derek Parker (@DParkOK) June 23, 2025

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

That’s enough shine for the Thunder’s key offseason acquisitions. It all starts with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and he had a tremendous playoff run capped off by a Finals MVP.

He joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal as the only players to win the scoring title, regular season MVP and Finals MVP in the same season.

“It feels amazing,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So much weight off my shoulders, so much stress relieved. No matter what, you go into every night wanting to win and sometimes, it just doesn’t go your way. Tonight could’ve been one of those nights but we found a way. I wouldn’t have rather done it with any group in the world.

“Feels good to be a champion.”

There was nothing but class from Gilgeous-Alexander from start to finish. When Tyrese Haliburton went down with a brutal Achilles rupture, Gilgeous-Alexander went over to say a few words. Even after the game, Gilgeous-Alexander explained the sadness he felt seeing his opponent in pain.

“I just asked him if he was all right, seemed like he was in pain,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “You just hate to see it, in sports in general, but in this moment. My heart dropped for him, I couldn’t imagine playing the biggest game of my life and something like that happening. It’s so unfortunate, it’s so unfair, but competition isn’t fair sometimes.

“I just felt so bad for him and asked if he was OK. Obviously, he wasn’t, but prayers go out to him for sure. Hell of a player, future’s bright, that team’s gonna be really good for a long time. Impressive team, impressive player, wish them the best of luck.”

Jalen Williams

Williams has now made himself a household name. Viewed as a breakout candidate last year, Williams has smashed through the door and put everyone on notice. When Scottie Pippen comparisons are being made by the man himself, you know you’re doing something right.

The first-time All-Star was stellar on both ends of the floor and shared what it’s like to truly experience the highs and lows of the postseason.

“From a confidence standpoint, the hardest thing to do is — when you’re not playing well or you’re down about your game — is to still have confidence that you’re an elite player,” Williams explained to ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt. “I’m human, especially on this stage, you’re always questioning if you’re good enough and I think when I question it, I kinda lean into it (watching his own YouTube highlights) a little more.”

Van Pelt explained to him there was no need to question himself when he dropped 40 points in a Finals game. Williams quickly reminded him he was a minus-40 the next game. That’s humility at its finest.

Thunder star Jalen Williams admits he watches YouTube highlights of himself to help his confidence.

JW: “You always are questioning if you’re good enough…”

SVP: “You had a 40-piece in the Finals!”

JW: “Yeah, and then I was negative-40 the next game.” 🏀📺🎙️ #NBA pic.twitter.com/IJYBj2R8fD

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 23, 2025

Chet Holmgren

This wouldn’t be complete without all of the Thunder Big Three getting their shine.

What a Game 7 he had to close out his playoff run. Holmgren collected 18 points, eight rebounds and five blocks to assert his dominance. He became the youngest player since Serge Ibaka to have at least 40 blocks in a playoff run. He also became the youngest since Tim Duncan to have at least 10 blocks throughout an entire NBA Finals.

Holmgren is a great story of resilience. He missed his entire rookie year with injury, then broke his hip earlier this season. He has been essential to the Thunder’s defensive excellence and overcame those obstacles to make it count when it mattered most.

“It sucked,” Holmgren said of his injury. “If you told me this would be the end point when I got hurt, it’d be easy not to quit. But, this isn’t guaranteed, that’s why only one team gets to do it every year, so that’s why I’m so happy I didn’t quit. There were a lot of nights where I was out there on will power and anti-inflammatories, so I’m just so happy I didn’t quit.

“We made it, we did it.”