Contrary to popular belief not everything was easy for the Oklahoma City Thunder this season.

Oklahoma City went back to the lineup it used throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs on Friday night, returning Isaiah Hartenstein to the starting five for Game 4 of the NBA Finals against Indiana.

TJ McConnell stole inbounds passes not once, not twice, but three times in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

Game 1, a loss on the opposition’s final shot.

The moment is clearly not too big for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Thunder didn’t even exist in Oklahoma City when the 1995 bombing happened; the franchise that had been known as the Seattle SuperSonics didn’t relocate to America’s heartland until more than a decade later.

The game plan was the obvious one.

Things were going as expected for the heavily favored Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

The Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder have two of the NBA’s best offenses.

Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault has the best record of any coach in the NBA this season.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played like an MVP for the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night.

The seeds for the 2025 NBA Finals began getting planted unknowingly in 2017, when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was about to enroll at Kentucky and Tyrese Haliburton was getting ready for his senior year of high school.

The manner in which the Oklahoma City Thunder clinched their spot in the NBA Finals seemed fitting.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 34 points, eight assists and seven rebounds to help the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-94, win the Western Conference finals series 4-1 and advance to the NBA Finals.

The Oklahoma City Thunder found all kinds of soft spots in the defense and consistently hit those open shots over two decisive wins to start the Western Conference finals.

Anthony Edwards had 30 points, nine rebounds and six assists in just three quarters to lead the re-energized Minnesota Timberwolves in a 143-101 victory over Oklahoma City in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals.

Minneapolis native Chet Holmgren could block his hometown team from winning a championship.

Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon will start in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, despite having a strained left hamstring.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Oklahoma City’s young core has reached its moment of truth.

The Oklahoma City Thunder went 68-14 in the regular season and swept Memphis in the first round of the playoffs.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the youthful Oklahoma Thunder are on the verge of making the franchise’s first appearance in the Western Conference finals since 2016.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is mostly an expressionless, seemingly emotionless model of consistency.

The Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder couldn’t wake up their offense with an early tip for Game 4 on Sunday.

A change of scenery certainly served the Cleveland Cavaliers well.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t sulk over his off night.

The Oklahoma City Thunder set an NBA playoff record for first-half points with 87 against the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series.

The Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder looked very much like the dominant teams they were during the regular season in securing lopsided first-round playoff series wins.

Defending champion Boston vs.

As the first team to move on to the second round of the NBA playoffs, the Oklahoma City Thunder get some time off.

Oklahoma City has a chance to secure its spot in Round 2.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 27 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the Memphis Grizzlies 118-99 to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series.

The Oklahoma City Thunder, Indiana Pacers and Minnesota Timberwolves will try to avoid complacency when they return to action on Tuesday after dominating their first-round playoff series openers.

It’s now reasonable to think that Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo finished third in this season’s balloting for the NBA MVP award.

Oklahoma City’s playoff run got off to a record-setting start.

Oklahoma City takes the No. 1 seed in the playoffs into its first-round opener against Memphis.

Oklahoma City and Cleveland are the top seeds in the NBA playoffs, which comes with some perks.

Oklahoma City had a regular season like none other in NBA history.

Doc Rivers says he saw star potential in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander while coaching him as a rookie before the Los Angeles Clippers traded him to Oklahoma City.

The NBA All-Stars have been selected.

NBA coaches are obviously convinced: Victor Wembanyama is one of the league’s very best players.

Here’s how the last few days have gone for the Oklahoma City Thunder: Lose the NBA Cup final to Milwaukee in Las Vegas on Tuesday, spend time airborne over four different time zones on Wednesday, win in Orlando on Thursday, win in Miami on Friday.

Everyone has a lucky number in Las Vegas.

The Oklahoma City Thunder might just be scratching the surface of their potential.

P.

Lu Dort was the defensive catalyst as the Oklahoma City Thunder held Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic to 19 points on 6-for-19 shooting in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points to help the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder defeat the Dallas Mavericks 117-95 in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series.

The Oklahoma City Thunder entered the playoffs facing questions about their relative youth and playoff inexperience.

Jalen Williams highlighted a 24-point performance with a back-breaking 3 with three minutes left, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the New Orleans Pelicans 97-89 to complete a four-game sweep of their first-round playoff series.

The final day of the NBA’s regular season should be wild.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made the go-ahead jumper from the corner with 2.6 seconds left, sending the Oklahoma City Thunder to the playoffs for the first time since 2020 with a 113-112 victory over the New York Knicks on Sunday night.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points, Josh Giddey had a triple-double and Oklahoma City rolled past the Portland Trail Blazers 139-77 on Thursday night, a 62-point victory that matched the fifth-largest rout in NBA history.

Sacramento's Mike Brown is the unanimous winner of the NBA’s Coach of the Year award.

Ben Simmons finally played for the Brooklyn Nets in their preseason opener.

Another NBA head coach has entered the league's health and safety protocols.

The NBA postponed Golden State's game with Denver on Thursday, the same day that Philadelphia’s Doc Rivers and Denver’s Michael Malone entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols.

Kyrie Irving is a step closer to making his season debut.

Domantas Sabonis had a triple-double in the first half and the Indiana Pacers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 152-95 in the largest home loss in NBA history.

(AP Photo/Michael Wyke)HOUSTON – Mired in a long losing streak, the Houston Rockets twice put the ball in John Wall's hands in the waning moments. The Rockets lost their team-record 20th straight game, falling to the Oklahoma City Thunder 114-112 Sunday when Wall missed two shots in the final 10 seconds. This one hurts.”Dort scored 23 points and Isaiah Roby had 18 for the Thunder, who led by as many as 13 points. They shot a sizzling 14 of 21 on 3s in the second quarter, however, and Oklahoma City led 66-62 at halftime. The Rockets hit a franchise-record 28 3s in a win against the Thunder on Feb. 1, just three days before their last win.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) shoots between Chicago Bulls guard Garrett Temple (17) and forward Lauri Markkanen during overtime of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)OKLAHOMA CITY – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a career-high 33 points and 10 assists to help Oklahoma City beat the Chicago Bulls and former Thunder coach Billy Donovan 127-125 in overtime Friday night. Donovan knew all too well how good Oklahoma City can be under challenging circumstances. ... Oklahoma City scored 19 points off Chicago's nine turnovers in the third quarter. ... Oklahoma City shot 56% in the third quarter and outscored the Bulls 37-27.

The NBA is urging teams to make increased commitments toward providing mental health resources to players and staff, releasing updated guidelines Wednesday to reflect the challenge of playing amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The NBA has mandated that teams offer access to mental health professionals in recent seasons — a program the league calls Mind Health was launched nearly three years ago — but that obviously predates the pandemic and how countless aspects of day-to-day life has changed in recent months. Those are a few of the ways the NBA has changed amid the virus. “All this is a little bit like the Twilight Zone,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked about the mental strain of playing amid a pandemic. “The usage of mental health tools and support platforms has increased as have the modalities to assist those in need.

The Lakers, who beat Miami to win the championship Oct. 11, start the new season against the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night. Also on Wednesday, Chicago beat Oklahoma City 124-103, and Portland played at Denver. BULLS 124, THUNDER 103At Oklahoma City, the Bulls took control in the second quarter and didn’t let up. LaVine scored 16 points on 6-for-7 shooting in the first quarter while Gilgeous-Alexander scored 11 for Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City couldn’t get into a flow, but part of that was because first-year coach Mark Daigneault gave minutes to 13 players.