The only weight on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s shoulders was a set of shoelaces.
Hanging from it was a golden pair of his signature sneaker, the Shai 001. Converse made the special colorway to celebrate the OKC Thunder’s first championship, which it secured with a Game 7 home win over the Indiana Pacers on June 22. And as Gilgeous-Alexander melted into his seat for his postgame press conference, so too did the hardened exterior he’d carried all series.
“It feels amazing,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who was all smiles after the win. “So much weight off my shoulders. So much stress relieved. … It feels good to be a champion.”
Gilgeous-Alexander returned to Paycom Center on Monday for OKC’s annual media day ahead of the 2025-26 NBA season. But when he settled into his seat this time, just a short walk down a tunnel from where he celebrated a title three months ago, the stone-faced superstar returned to form.
“We’ve had plenty of time to relish and think about it and have fun, and I guess you can kind of say just soak in it,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I know I have. But it would suck to lose the NBA championship in 2026, so that’s the new focus. That’s the new goal.”
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OKC will now carry a new weight. It’ll be on its back in the form of a target for the rest of the NBA.
That’s dangerous in a league filled with the world’s best sharpshooters. It’s a big reason why a new champion has been crowned in each of the last seven years. Of the previous six winners, only one of them made it out of the second round the following season.
Those are the odds OKC is up against this season, which it’ll begin on Oct. 21 with a home game against the Houston Rockets. They’re one of the biggest threats to the throne along with teams such as the Denver Nuggets, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks.
But OKC doesn’t view the upcoming campaign as a title defense.
“Everybody is saying ‘defending,’ but we’re trying to be on the offensive as well,” Jalen Williams said. “So we’re coming in with more motivation to do that every year.”
OKC is also coming in with continuity. The Thunder returned all but one player from its 15-man roster. The lone exception is Dillon Jones, who OKC traded to Washington on June 28 to free up a spot for rookie center Thomas Sorber.
It’s a roster that looks almost identical to last season on paper. But as OKC prepares for the franchise’s 18th chapter, a different story can be told when reading between the lines.
This isn’t the same group that didn’t know how to pop champaign bottles back in June. It savored the sweet taste of victory all summer and the spoils that come with it.
New contracts for Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams, Chet Holmgren, Jaylin Williams and Ajay Mitchell. Appearances on commercials and late-night talk shows. Trips back home with the Larry O’Brien Trophy. A league-leading 34 nationally-televised games for the upcoming season.
OKC ate its fill this summer. And yet the young Thunder, still growing by the day, will be as hungry as ever once the ball tips off.
“We’re not playing for the TV games or the contracts,” Jalen Williams said. “This is going to sound really dramatic, but you are chasing greatness. You’re chasing to achieve stuff that hasn’t been done in our organization. And that’s everybody’s motivation. I think that’s why we’re a special group.”
Winning a second straight championship in an era of parity would certainly be special.
It won’t be easy. But OKC is determined to lift the trophy, and all of the weight that comes with it, once again.
“How we get there is the same as it’s always ever been,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Daily improvement and focusing on trying to get better at the things that we can control every day. And hopefully we look up and we’ve accomplished the same thing we just accomplished.”
Justin Martinez covers sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Justin? He can be reached at jmartinez@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @Justintohoops. Sign up for the Thunder Sports Minute newsletter to access more NBA coverage. Support Justin’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder ‘on the offensive’ as NBA champions
