Jalen Williams

Thunder Win First Championship Since Move; SGA Named Finals MVP

June 22nd, 2025 at 10:07pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Thunder claimed their first NBA championship since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City, as they defeated the depleted Pacers, 103-91, in Game 7 on Sunday.

Seattle, which won the championship in 1979, relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008. The Pacers, who have never won an NBA title, played the last three quarters without Tyrese Haliburton, who suffered an Achilles injury in the first quarter.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, this season’s Most Valuable Player, also earned Finals MVP honors, the league announced (via Twitter). It’s the 16th time a player has won both in the same year, though it hasn’t happened since LeBron James pulled it off during the 2012/13 season.

The Thunder should be major contenders for years to come with their young core, featuring Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. The top priorities for the Thunder this offseason center around extensions.

Gilgeous-Alexander has met the performance criteria for a super-max contract and will become eligible to sign that extension next month. The 2024 MVP runner-up still has two years left on his current deal and can’t exceed six years in total, so the maximum value of his extension would be a projected $293.4MM over four years, beginning in 2027/28.

Williams and Holmgren are eligible for rookie scale extensions until the beginning of next seasons and both could receive the max – five years and a projected $246MM. The maximum value of those extensions could increase to a projected $296MM if All-NBA, MVP or Defensive Player of the Year honors are negotiated into the contracts.

The Pacers’ offseason outlook could change dramatically due to Haliburton’s injury. Myles Turner, their starting center, is headed to unrestricted free agency and while the Pacers reportedly want to re-sign him, they could have plenty of competition. Bennedict Mathurin is eligible for a rookie scale extension.

Several other key players, including Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, are signed through at least the 2027/28 season. Could they look to shed salary in light of Haliburton’s injury?

With the NBA Finals decided, the 2025 NBA offseason is officially underway. For the second straight year, teams will be permitted to negotiate contracts with their own free agents one day after the Finals. Players who won’t be free agents this offseason but who will become eligible to sign contract extensions on July 6 will also be permitted to begin negotiations with their current teams on Monday.

Thus, it wouldn’t be surprising if some agreements are reported this week. Free agent contracts still can’t be officially finalized until after the July moratorium lifts on July 6.

The draft will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, with free agency beginning on June 30 at 6 p.m. Eastern time.

Thunder Notes: SGA, Title Path, Market Size, Jalen Williams, K. Williams

June 19th, 2025 at 7:36pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Now leading Indiana 3-2 in the NBA Finals, the Thunder and their All-NBA point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are on the cusp of securing their first title in Oklahoma City. Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (subscriber link) unpacks what that would mean for the team, Gilgeous-Alexander, All-NBA forward Jalen Williams, big man Chet Holmgren, team owner Clay Bennett, longtime general manager Sam Presti, head coach Mark Daigneault, and more.

Gilgeous-Alexander, who’s already one of the most NBA’s most efficient scoring guards, can still be maximized as a distributor by Oklahoma City, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Grange observes that, over the last 40 years, only Gilgeous-Alexander and Kevin Durant have scored 2,400 or more points with a true shooting mark of .630 or better, both during their respective MVP seasons for the Thunder.

The 6’6″ guard continues to try to thread the needle when it comes to looking to score and looking to involve other players in the offense. Grange notes that Gilgeous-Alexander notched eight assists in Game 2 and 10 more in Game 5, but has had just seven total dimes in the other three games of the series.

There’s more out of Oklahoma City:

The Thunder’s consistent organizational infrastructure has helped the club return to the NBA Finals and reach the brink of a championship, observes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Presti has held his gig for 18 seasons and counting, while Bennett has proven to be a stabilizing force on the business front. Slater notes that the Thunder, who won just 24 games three years ago, have managed a remarkable turnaround back to contention.
The Thunder have hardly let being the league’s third-smallest market franchise limit their aspirations, writes Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. Rival executives are convinced that Oklahoma City spends extensively on its front office— its 88 basketball operations staffers lap the big-market Lakers’ 56. Vorkunov also notes that the team’s front office stability has been appealing to help the team retain talent.
Hall of Fame former Chicago forward Scottie Pippen has noticed the parallels between himself and All-NBA Thunder wing Jalen Williams, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Both were two-way standouts who blossomed next to more established scoring guards en route to Finals appearances. “He is pretty special,” Pippen told MacMahon. “I’m enjoying watching him. I see a lot of me in him for sure. I see a guy rising to be one of the top players in this league. He’s definitely a player that is capable of being able to lead that franchise to multiple championships — him and Shai, of course.”
In another piece for The Oklahoman (subscriber link), Mussatto examines Kenrich Williams‘ natural fit in Oklahoma City. Williams has now been with the Thunder longer than every player on the roster aside from Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort. “He’s an old head,” Dort said of Williams. “He has an old soul. You feel it every time you’re around him. His leadership has been big for us on and off the court.” Williams is in the second year of a four-season, $27.2MM deal with the club. Thanks to a deep backcourt, Daigneault has been deploying Williams in spot minutes throughout the playoffs. He’s been averaging 8.1 MPG in the 14 games he’s seen action.

Thunder Notes: SGA, Williams, Wiggins, Finals MVP

June 18th, 2025 at 5:46pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Heroic NBA Finals performances from Thunder All-Stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams have brought Oklahoma City to the brink of its first franchise championship since leaving Seattle, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.

With MVP Gilgeous-Alexander still just 26 and Williams merely 24, the future is bright for this young Thunder squad.

Grange notes that Gilgeous-Alexander became the first player in NBA history to compile at least 31 points, 10 assists, four blocks, and two steals in a Finals game in Monday’s pivotal 120-109 win over Indiana, while Williams scored a whopping 40 points.

“He was, like, really gutsy tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander raved about Williams after Game 5. “Felt like every time we needed a shot, he made it. He wasn’t afraid. He was fearless tonight.”

There’s more out of Oklahoma City:

The Thunder’s role players are happy to sacrifice individual accomplishments to serve the greater whole, writes Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman. Beyond stars Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and center Chet Holmgren, role players Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins proved critical off the bench in Game 5, notching 25 combined points, to help Oklahoma City ice the victory. All-Defensive wings Luguentz Dort and Alex Caruso have been crucial on both ends of the hardwood throughout the series. “That’s the culture of our whole team,” Williams said. “Everybody is ready to do whatever it takes to win.”
Wiggins in particular has been a valuable contributor for the Thunder during the Finals on both sides of the ball. As Rylan Stiles of Thunder On SI observes, the fact that a former No. 55 draft pick can even have any kind of playoff impact is a great reflection on Oklahoma City’s developmental program.
Although Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged 32.4 points, 5.0 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 1.8 blocks per night through five Finals games for the Thunder, Zach Harper of The Athletic wonders if an ascendant Williams could swipe the Finals MVP award from him with his terrific two-way play of late. Across the last three contests, including two Oklahoma City wins, Williams has averaged 31 points while shooting 50.8% from the field and 40% from distance.

Thunder Notes: Williams, Offensive Flow, Hartenstein

June 17th, 2025 at 4:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Thunder need just one more win to claim the NBA title, thanks to Jalen Williams. The third-year forward poured in 40 points in Game 5 as Oklahoma City took a 3-2 series lead over the Pacers.

“He was really gutsy tonight,” MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said during the post-game press conference, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “He stepped into big plays. Felt like every time we needed a shot, he made it. He wasn’t afraid. He was fearless tonight.”

Williams became the third-youngest player to score at least 40 points in an NBA Finals game, trailing only Magic Johnson and Russell Westbrook.

“It’s something more that I’ll look back on later than worry about what kind statement it makes,” he said. “I think the only statement we have right now is we’re up 3-2 and we have to still go earn another win.”

Williams is eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason that could be worth a projected $246MM over five years. The maximum value could increase to a projected $296MM if Williams makes an All-NBA team again in 2026 after earning a spot on the All-NBA Third Team this season.

Here’s more on the Thunder:

Williams’ teammates are thrilled for his success. Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic examines how the Thunder forward reached this point. “He’s one of those guys that you want to see succeed, especially when you know him personally,” Chet Holmgren said. “You want to root for him. You want him to do good just because he shows up every single day, does the right things. He’s a good guy off the court, treats everybody well. He’s always respectful. He works really hard. You want to see it pay off for him. … We don’t get here without him playing as good as he’s playing. So, we’ve got to make sure he gets his credit, gets his flowers.”
While the Thunder shot just 42.6 percent from the field in Game 5, they made 14 of 32 three-point attempts and had 24 assists, compared to 11 turnovers. “It was for sure better,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of the team’s offensive flow, according to The Athletic’s Fred Katz. “Ball moved a little bit more. We were more aggressive. We were in the paint making decisions. Yeah, we were good.”
Their top free agent from last offseason, Isaiah Hartenstein, played a pivotal role with his decision-making, especially in the first half. Hartenstein posted modest stats — four points, eight rebounds (six of them offensive), four assists, one block and one steal in 21 minutes — but his impact was much greater than those raw numbers, according to The Athetic’s Kelly Iko. “I think it’s big,” Hartenstein said. “I think I provide different things, and I can also change my role, that’s the biggest thing. I can adapt. This series has been less scoring and trying to get guys open. Just me being ego-less in that sense helps the team a lot.”

Thunder Notes: Identity, Gilgeous-Alexander, Shooting, Turnovers

June 13th, 2025 at 5:00pm CST by Eli Cohen

In Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday, the Thunder struggled to maintain the identity that made them such a powerhouse throughout the regular season and much of the playoffs, writes Joel Lorezni of The Oklahoman. If they want to head back to Oklahoma City having tied the series against the Pacers, they need to reclaim their composure.

It’s a sentiment that head coach Mark Daigneault shares, though he’s not overreacting to the 2-1 deficit.

“I think that happens in a playoff series,” he said on Thursday. “Four games, five games, six games, seven games is a long time. You’re going to get a range of games and experiences in that.”

Lorenzi points to the passing numbers for the Thunder as proof of them getting away from their game. In the team’s two losses to Indiana, Oklahoma City has posted its two lowest assist totals of the season. That, coupled with uncharacteristically sloppy turnovers, points to a team out of sorts and needing to settle into its game.

“At the end of the day,” Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander says, “we have to be who we are and who we’ve been all season. I think we got back to that in that series. If we want to give ourselves a chance in this series, it has to be the same thing.”

We have more from the Thunder:

The Pacers have made life difficult for Gilgeous-Alexander, hounding him throughout the game and wearing him down late, writes ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. That’s no excuse in the MVP’s eyes. “To me, the way I see it, you got to suck it up, get it done and try to get a win,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. MacMahon writes that the Pacers began defending Gilgeous-Alexander an average of 65.5 feet from the basket, a level of defensive intensity the young star has never faced before, and that resulted in him bringing the ball up far less often than he typically would. Indiana employed a similar tactic against the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson in the Eastern Conference Finals and was successful in getting the ball out of his hands for stretches. In the Game 3 loss, Gilgeous-Alexander only scored three points on three shots and had no assists in the pivotal fourth quarter. How he bounces back in Game 4 will go a long way in determining the Thunder’s fate.
Beyond the pressure on their star, the Thunder’s struggles to convert mid-range shots is another issue facing the team, writes John Hollinger of The Athletic. Hollinger writes that while the Thunder have shot well on three-pointers and drawn fouls, their two-point shooting, which is usually a strength, has deserted them. They’re making 47.2% of two-pointers this series, compared to their average of 55.9%, after shooting 54% against the Nuggets and 55.7% against the Timberwolves. Jalen Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander have particularly struggled from that range, which is a problem since that’s the bread and butter for the Thunder’s two best players.
Turnovers have been another major factor in Oklahoma City’s struggles, says Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Most glaringly, the team committed three inbounds turnovers off of made baskets, which led to three T.J. McConnell steals. These kinds of unforced errors can have huge consequences, says Alex Caruso, who was responsible for one of them. “I call them pick-sixes,” Caruso said. “It’s a live-ball turnover in your third of the court and they score. It can add up to eight, 10, 12 points, which might be the difference in the game.” The Thunder finished the game with 19 turnovers, their highest total of the playoffs, with Gilgeous-Alexander responsible for six of them. “It just goes back to being tighter, being more focused, being more forceful all night,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

Thunder Notes: Caruso, Wiggins, Ownership, Depth, Defensive Strategy

June 10th, 2025 at 9:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Alex Caruso played 19.3 minutes per game during the regular season but is averaging 23 minutes during the postseason. Caruso, who averaged 28.7 minutes last season with Chicago, said the reduced playing time over the course of the year was by design. The Thunder wanted to keep the hard-nosed guard fresh for a deep playoff run.

“I just only have one gear. I don’t know how to play at 75 percent. Some of that was keeping me out of my own way, out of harm’s way. I don’t do a good job of that on my own,” Caruso said, per Ryan Stiles of Sports Illustrated. “Yeah, some of that, it was difficult just because I am such a competitive guy. If I’m only playing 15 to 20 minutes, if it’s one of those nights where it’s 15, we’re not playing great, like my instinct is to, all right, coach, leave me in there, let me fix it, let me be the one to help us get out of it.”

We have more on the Thunder with Game 3 of the NBA Finals approaching on Wednesday:

Aaron Wiggins erupted for 18 points in 21 minutes in Game 2 after playing just nine minutes in Game 1. That made a strong impression on one of his All Star teammates. “It’s the hardest job in the league, I feel like. I think he’s underrated … It’s really hard to stay engaged and stay ready. For him to be able to do that on the biggest stage he’s ever played on and have a really good game, very special player. I always keep that in mind. Yeah, it’s a really tough job. He does it very well,” Jalen Williams said, per Stiles.
Some investors may be regretting their decision to not grab a stake in the franchise. According to Kurt Badenhausen and Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico, shares of the team held by the estate of fracking baron Aubrey McClendon, who died in 2016, were put up for sale in 2019. McClendon was part of Clay Bennett‘s group that paid $350MM for Seattle SuperSonics in 2006. Those shares, approximately 20 percent of the franchise, remained on the market for a while before ultimately purchased by the current majority stakeholders.
The Thunder were a plus-11 in Game 2 during the 12 minutes that MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was on the bench, a showcase of their depth, The Athletic’s Anthony Slater notes. The five-man unit of Caruso (who had 20 points), Williams, Wiggins, Cason Wallace and Isaiah Hartenstein was particularly potent. “We’ve played that lineup a lot through the playoffs,” Caruso said. “(Head coach) Mark (Daigneault) went back to it because we’ve had a lot of success. Me and Cason do a good job of mixing it up with whoever is the lead guard. Dub has great hands. We have a versatility in the lineup. It lets Wigs get a little bit loose, too.”
In Game 2, Oklahoma City found success via a combination of ball screen location, aggression and overall defensive alignment, according to Kelly Iko of The Athletic. He breaks down OKC’s defensive strategy that slowed the Pacers’ high-octane attack.

Thunder Notes: SGA, Caruso, Williams, Holmgren, Game 2 Adjustments

June 9th, 2025 at 8:01am CST by Arthur Hill

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander set a record for the most combined points by a player in his first two NBA Finals games as the Thunder defeated Indiana to even their series at 1-1, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. After taking 30 shots to reach 38 points in Game 1, Gilgeous-Alexander was more efficient on Sunday, going 11-of-21 from the field and 11-of-12 from the foul line en route to a 34-point performance.

MacMahon notes that SGA also established a franchise record with his 12th 30-point game of this year’s playoffs, topping the mark set by Kevin Durant in 2014.

“I’m being myself,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I don’t think I tried to reinvent the wheel or step up to the plate with a different mindset. Just try to attack the game the right way. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that so far.”

The reigning MVP and the league’s best regular season team both looked more in character in Game 2 than they did while letting a 15-point fourth quarter lead slip away in the opener. Gilgeous-Alexander resumed his normal role as a facilitator as well as a scorer, handing out eight assists after having just three in Game 1. His assists went to seven different teammates, and six of them resulted in made three-pointers.

“He’s just getting better and better, which is very impressive,” Jalen Williams said. “Obviously, he’s the MVP of the league. For him to continue to get better is good. He just trusts us to make plays. I think when your best player is out there and he trusts you to make a play, it just gives you more confidence. He understands that. I think that’s one of the roles he’s gotten really good at and grown at, and it just makes our team better.”

There’s more on the Thunder:

Defensive sparkplug Alex Caruso delivered 20 points off the bench to help keep the game out of reach, per Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. It was a scoring mark he didn’t achieve in any game during the regular season, and it was more than any Pacers player was able to muster. “He’s one of those guys who you know is going to bring it every single night,” Chet Holmgren said. “Whether he’s 22 or 30, doesn’t matter. He’s going to bring it. I feel like, as a collective, we really feed off of that. Then also his ability to kind of process things that are happening out there and relay it and communicate it to everybody else is really important for us.”
After subpar showings in the series opener, Williams and Holmgren delivered more typical outings in Game 2, notes Will Guillory of The Athletic. Williams contributed 19 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Holmgren added 15 points and six rebounds. Aaron Wiggins chipped in 18 points off the bench as the Thunder reserves outscored the Pacers’ reserves, 48-34.
Coach Mark Daigneault stuck with his smaller starting lineup from Game 1 — with Cason Wallace replacing Isaiah Hartenstein — but he made a few adjustments on Sunday, observes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Holmgren and Hartenstein saw time together, allowing Oklahoma City to be more competitive on the boards, and rookie guard Ajay Mitchell was barely used.

Thunder Notes: Offseason, Mitchell, Caruso, Daigneault

June 8th, 2025 at 5:01pm CST by Eli Cohen

While the Thunder look to avoid dropping a second straight game to the Pacers in Sunday’s Game 2 Finals matchup, teams around the league are eyeing Oklahoma City’s roster construction with interest, writes Jake Fischer for The Stein Line (Substack link).

That’s not just because of the success general manager Sam Presti has had building a small-market powerhouse, but also because the team currently has the maximum 15 players under contract for next season while holding three top-45 picks in the 2025 draft, two of which are first-rounders (Nos. 15 and 24).

Fischer writes that the team has a unique level of flexibility that could allow it to make any number of roster moves. That could include declining rookie guard Ajay Mitchell‘s team option and bringing him back on a two-way contract, which would require some level of trust from Mitchell. It could also mean packaging picks to move up into the lottery, and Fischer reports that some teams in that range of the draft are expecting that possibility to present itself. The Thunder could also trade out of the draft, rather than up, to continue accumulating future draft assets and delay making a decision.

The Thunder are already set to add last year’s lottery pick Nikola Topic to the rotation after he missed the entirety of the 2024/25 season, so in addition to roster spots, there’s also a question of how many minutes will be available for first-year players next year.

We have more Thunder news:

Speaking of Mitchell, the former second-round pick’s inclusion in the Game 1 rotation for the Thunder was somewhat unexpected, considering he had only played 64 playoff minutes heading into the Finals. However, that was what made it such a Thunder move, writes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. The team prides itself on its next-man-up approach, and on Thursday night, that meant Mitchell seeing the first Finals action of his nascent career. “I don’t think there’s more nervousness, I think maybe more excitement just because it’s the Finals. But at the end of the day, it’s basketball. Once you step on the court, there’s nothing really else that matters. When I step on the floor, it’s just basketball,” Mitchell said.
Alex Caruso‘s journey to the NBA Finals began with a 2016 audition for an Exhibit 10 contract, a workout that quickly showed who he would become as a basketball player and teammate, writes ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “By midway through the workout, he’s coaching the workout. He’s doing what he does,” coach Mark Daigneault said. But even the oft-lauded Presti didn’t quite know what he had in the versatile defender, and Caruso eventually left for the Lakers without ever having been called up from the Thunder’s G League affiliate. It’s fitting that now, as a 31-year-old veteran with championship pedigree, he has returned to where it all began to help his former coach and organization, both on the court and as a mentor to the cadre of young, defensive-minded guards on the roster.
Daigneault has taken a lion’s share of the blame for Oklahoma City’s Game 1 collapse against the Pacers, who once again came back miraculously to steal Game 1 on the road. While it’s natural to look for a target for blame after such a dramatic letdown, SI’s Rylan Stiles writes that putting it all on the head coach isn’t the right way to look at it. While changing the starting lineup that had gotten the team to the Finals before Game 1 was a controversial decision, the starting unit wasn’t why they lost the game, Stiles writes, and neither was playing Mitchell. While Daigneault could have, and probably should have, brought Shai Gilgeous-Alexander back into the game sooner in the fourth quarter or experimented with double-big lineups, the team’s second and third options, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, ultimately weren’t good enough. If either had played even slightly better, Stiles writes, the Thunder would be up 1-0 and none of these questions would be popping up at all.
There are specific things the Thunder can do to ensure the end of Game 2 doesn’t play out as it did in Game 1, writes ESPN’s Zack Kram. The first thing is to put Game 1 out of their heads completely — something the Knicks seemed to struggle to do after losing Game 1 against the Pacers in similarly deflating fashion. As Stiles wrote, Williams and Holmgren need to step up, as they did against the Timberwolves, especially as the team sacrifices size and rebounding to keep up with the Pacers’ frenetic pace. They also need to move the ball quicker and not devolve into stagnant offensive possessions around Gilgeous-Alexander isolations. Indiana is counting on the MVP scoring, but Oklahoma City can hurt the Pacers by getting the supporting cast involved.

Thunder Notes: Jalen Williams, Holmgren, SGA, Presti

June 7th, 2025 at 8:51pm CST by Arthur Hill

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander carried the scoring load as expected for the Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, but Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren both suffered through off nights, combining for 23 points while shooting 8-of-28 from the field, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Williams saw his normal workload, but Holmgren was limited to 23 minutes as OKC coach Mark Daigneault went away from his two-big lineups.

At Saturday’s practice, Daigneault noted that Williams and Holmgren, who were both drafted in 2022, are young players who are being asked to produce on the league’s biggest stage.

“They have carved out huge roles on our team — they are a huge reason why we’re here,” he said. “They are in an uncommon position for third-year players. These are guys that are in their third year. Usually, delivering in the Finals is not on the curriculum for third-year players, you know, and they have thrust themselves into that situation, which is a credit to them.

“And now that they are here, they have to continue to do what they have done all the way through the playoffs, which is go out there, fully compete, learn the lessons, and apply it forward. And they have done a great job of that. I think you’ve seen that over the course of the playoffs. They haven’t always played their best game, but they always get themselves ready to play the next one.”

There’s more from Oklahoma City:

In an interview with Marc J. Spears of Andscape, Williams talks about his quick rise from a mid-major college team to NBA stardom. Williams reveals that he didn’t receive any Power 5 scholarship offers, so he opted for Santa Clara, where he gradually developed into an NBA prospect. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to appreciate everything that happened and I look back and believe that if it didn’t happen that way, I don’t think I would be in the position I was,” Williams said. “So, in a way, honestly, it just makes me feel kind of relieved and happy that was the way it went. I remember a lot of times I would work out because something went wrong or I didn’t get picked for something I thought I should get picked for. It made me go to the gym. It made me take it way more seriously.”
With an MVP award already in his possession, Gilgeous-Alexander has a chance to join an elite list of players by winning an NBA championship, observes Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman. Lorenzi points out that Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are the only players to capture a scoring title, MVP honors and Finals MVP in the same season.
John Hollinger of The Athletic examines how general manager Sam Presti was able to build a second great team in Oklahoma City after his first one fell apart without winning a title.

And-Ones: Cook, Sirvydis, 2022 Redraft, Gasol

June 2nd, 2025 at 9:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Former NBA forward Tyler Cook is signing with a Japanese team, Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com reports. He’ll be joining the Ibaraki Robots.

Cook averaged 15.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists on 63.6% shooting in the Turkish league with Merkezefendi this past season. He played 65 games in the NBA, most recently with Chicago in 2021/22.

Here’s more from the international basketball world:

Another former NBA forward, Deividas Sirvydis, is re-signing with Lithuania’s Zalgiris Kaunas on a contract that runs through the 2027/28 season, according to a team press release. In his debut EuroLeague season, Sirvydis averaged 8.4 points and 2.6 rebounds per game, shooting 51.5% from two-point range and 38.8% from three-point range. Sirvydis, a 2019 second-round pick, made 23 appearances with Detroit.
If they had to do it all over again, Paolo Banchero would still be the No. 1 pick of the 2022 draft. HoopsHype’s Frank Urbina conducted a 2022 re-draft and there was one big move up the draft ladder — Urbina suggests Jalen Williams would be the No. 2 pick instead of the No. 12 selection, while Dyson Daniels would also move into the top five.
Speaking to Eurohoops, former NBA All-Star Pau Gasol wouldn’t go as far as saying the current group of European stars are better than his era’s top imports. Rather, he looks at it as each generation grows the legacy of European players before them.

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