The Oklahoma City Thunder are starting to turn their attention away from the championship they won to cap off the 2024-25 season and toward the upcoming 2025-26 campaign, in which they will begin their quest for a repeat. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has had a pretty OK summer, winning the Finals MVP award and signing a contract that made him one of the richest players in NBA history.
Recently, former NFL Super Bowl-winning running back Marshawn Lynch was discussing some NBA 2k ratings on a podcast appearance and had a bit of trouble pronouncing the star's name while announcing his 98 overall rating, per ThunderChats on X, formerly Twitter.
Marshawn Lynch sayings Shai’s name went exactly as you thought it would 😂 pic.twitter.com/eLJ8J7dyxa
— ThunderChats (@ThunderChats) September 4, 2025
Gilgeous-Alexander's name is a mouthful, with most fans and pundits opting to refer to him as SGA, as Lynch did at the beginning of the video.
Can the Thunder repeat?
The Oklahoma City Thunder would appear to be in prime position to compete for another NBA championship this upcoming season, as they have returned nearly every piece from their 2024-25 roster.
The bad news for Oklahoma City is that no team in the last seven years has made it out of the second round the season after winning a championship, even though most of those teams entered the ensuing year with sky-high expectations similar to the Thunder.
Most recently, it was the Boston Celtics who were ushered out of the second round by the New York Knicks in a series in which Jayson Tatum went down with an Achilles tear (although Boston was on the verge of going down 3-1 by the time that happened).
Before that, the Denver Nuggets met their demise in the form of the Minnesota Timberwolves a year after winning the 2023 championship.
Still, with the youth and elite defense they have on their roster, along with the league MVP in Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder figure to have the best chance of any of those teams to not only make it out of the second round, but accomplish a repeat as champions.
The Thunder will kick off their 2025-26 season with a game against the Houston Rockets on October 21 in front of their home fans, which will be preceded by a ring ceremony, with Kevin Durant having to watch his old team hang their first banner.
