INDIANAPOLIS — The Oklahoma City Thunder have entered the contention conversation this season despite their youthfulness.
The Thunder (37-17) are one game out of first place in the Western Conference at the All-Star break. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP-esque season has elevated OKC to among the best teams in the league.
When asked during his All-Star media session what the Thunder need to do to win a championship, Gilgeous-Alexander said what they need the most is more time.
“Usually experience, the teams that have gone through multiple playoff series and multiple guys that have gotten to that level know what it takes to get over the hump and do so,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “That’s something that, honestly, just has to come with us playing in more games. Maybe we give it time. Maybe we don’t.
“But we have no ceiling on what we think we can do this year. We kind of take the same mentality and just stay in the moment, plug away every day. Where we get at the end of the year, whenever the end of our season is, we’ll look back and make adjustments and try to figure out then. As of right now, we just try to stay focused on the task at hand.”
It might not be a flashy answer, but it’s the probable correct one. The Thunder will need to undergo battle scars in the playoffs to have sustainable success, as most teams who were also in their shoes did.
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