“I Don’t Think We’re Gonna Be Losing Much Longer.” - Just 3 Years Ago SGA Called His Shot, And Now He And The Thunder Are World Champions

Logan Riely. Getty Images.

Back on August 21, 2021 SGA signed a 5/179M designated rookie scale extension coming off a season in which the Thunder went a brutal 22-50 and had a 14th place finish in the West. The next season, the Thunder finished 24-58, once again finishing 14th in the West. This was the "early" stages of the OKC rebuild, but it was pretty clear that they had secured the toughest part of any rebuild, which is nailing your "franchise player". If you get that part wrong, you're cooked. But if you get it right? It changes everything about what might be possible one day.

Ahead of the 2022-23 season, now entering Year 3 of his OKC era, SGA was pretty confident that a turnaround was right around the corner. In September of that season, he essentially called his shot

Since that moment? 

2022-23: From 24 to 40 wins and a Play In appearance

2023-24: From 40 to 57 wins and their first playoff appearance since 2019-20

2024-25: From 57 wins to 68 wins and their first ever NBA title

Since September 2022, the Thunder have 165 regular season wins. Only the Boston Celtics have more (182) over that span. If you include the playoffs, it's Celtics (215), Nuggets (190), and Thunder (187). It should then come as no surprise that since 2022-23, the last three champions have been the Thunder, Celtics, and Nuggets.

Listen, you don't have to like how the Thunder play. You don't have to love how they seem to get a different set of rules. That's all fine. But objectively, it's pretty cool to see a player make that type of declaration 3 years ago when the team couldn't come close to winning 30 games, and not only did he personally back it up, so did the entire team. That's calling your shot and then some if you ask me, and it's hard not to respect how the Thunder did it. There was no big free agent signing. There was no flipping young assets for aging players in hopes of forming a manufactured or "bought" superteam. Instead, it was internal development, smart drafting, and savvy trades around the margins that turned the Thunder into a juggernaut. Who knows what happens moving forward as nothing in the NBA is ever guaranteed and you're always one bad step away from the entire trajectory if your franchise changing in a blink of an eye, but I'll always respect a player who comitted and bought into a "small market" years before they took off who very clearly put in the work to elevate his game and then when it came time to come through, that player came through

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I get it, he doesn't always play the most ethical style, his whistle is crazy, and at times that can make for a very frustrating viewing experience for everyone who isn't an OKC fan. But that doesn't change the fact that SGA called his shot 3 years ago and then immediately backed it up to a level that we rarely seen in all of NBA history. I think both things can be true. He gets an extremely friendly whistle at times, but he's also really fucking good, and with how many times we see players talk all this noise only to flame out when it matters most, I respect a guy who put out a guarantee like that and then actually backed it up. 

This is like the ultimate example of speaking things into existence, which I do believe is a real thing. You hear almost every champ say something along the lines of how they visualized this level of success before it happened. How they were certain that one day, they would get to this moment. You can't get to the top of the mountain unless you truly believe it's possible, and then, in addition to that belief, you are also willing to make the sacrifices and put in the work in order to do it. 

I know the thing to do the day after this Thunder win is to try and discredit it and call it a fake ring and all that bullshit. Frankly, I find that entire premise pathetic, but it's weirdly become the norm in recent years. To go from where the Thunder were in that SGA clip in 2022 to where they sit now as Champs is something every rebuilding franchise dreams of.