There is no denying that the Oklahoma City Thunder are the favorites to win another championship entering the 2025-26 NBA season. What Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren accomplished, leading this young Thunder squad to a title, was remarkable, but now comes the challenging part of it all: attempting to defend this championship.
As soon as a team captures their first championship, the narrative always turns to whether they can do it again.
In the Thunder's case, there is no doubt that this group has the talent to win at least 68 games again and be the top team entering the 2026 playoffs, but former NBA coach and current NBA on Prime broadcaster Stan Van Gundy is letting Oklahoma City and head coach Mark Daigneault know nothing will be easy for them this season.
Although Van Gundy believes that the Thunder are the best team in the league, like many NBA fans, he claims there is a big elephant in the room that the team will need to address top to bottom.
“Well, here’s the thing. The one thing that really is different is that during their rise to the top and throughout last season, that excitement factor that you faced every day has changed,” Van Gundy told ClutchPoints in an exclusive interview. “It is definitely a huge mental struggle that the Thunder will go through… The other problem you have is that on the way up, everybody is just happy to be a part of it, with the team winning and finding success.
“Now, with this really deep team, you could run into something where everybody wants a little bit of a bigger role. Pat Riley wrote a book years ago called The Winner Within, and he called it the ‘disease of ME.' People start getting a little selfish because they take winning for granted.
“I am not saying that will happen because I think this is a very high-character group in OKC, and I think that’s been the intent of Sam Presti building his roster. All I am saying is that it’s certainly a possibility and something they need to guard against.”
Will the Thunder defeat themselves?
This is a real problem that championship teams struggle with every NBA season.
While everything is all fun and games during the climb to greatness, as Van Gundy explained, some players become selfish and envision themselves taking on a greater role after success happens.
In the Thunder's case, they have a lot of very high-character players in their locker room, and this entire roster revolves around the precedent Daigneault and Gilgeous-Alexander have set.
Above the coach and their star player, Sam Presti has been the one to make sure a certain standard exists in Oklahoma City, and everyone is on the same page. That is why certain players have received contract extensions through the years and why everyone views the Thunder as the closest locker room in the NBA.
These young, rising talents do everything together and actually enjoy life outside of basketball together, which is why Van Gundy doesn't think this will ultimately be a problem the Thunder need to address.
However, at some point, every player in the league thinks they are deserving of more, and that idea is always amplified for championship organizations.
If the Thunder can avoid falling into the trap of their own design, there is no doubt that they will have an excellent chance to win back-to-back titles and become the first NBA franchise to do so since the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018.
Should the Thunder start to see some cracks in their foundation and their role players pushing for a larger role, then they will prove Van Gundy right.
See ClutchPoints' full interview with Stan Van Gundy and his take on the 2025-26 NBA season here
