After Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt celebrated Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Day and the Thunder after the last of all 18 players' commemorative days, he addressed the entire team in a special post on social media. Holt commended the Thunder for its resiliency amidst eight “must-win” victories, which the Mayor described as games Thunder won to avoid a 0-2 deficit, games on to prevent a 1-3 deficit, and when Oklahoma City took a commanding 3-2 lead.
By Mayor Holt's definition, the Thunder went 8-0 combined in must-win matchups amid its best-of-7 series against the Denver Nuggets and the Indiana Pacers. In a long letter to Thunder fans, Oklahoma City's Mayor reflected on what he'll remember most about the 2025 NBA champions, per his X, formerly Twitter.
“One thing I hope that this team is remembered for in NBA's history is its remarkable resilience during its championship run,” Holt said. “And I'm not sure the full nature of that resilience has ever been properly explained. Certainly, we know about some major injuries throughout the course of the season, especially the hidden injury to Jalen Williams.
“But I also mean the way the team responded to adversity within their playoff series, something that also reflects the city they represent.”
The postseason run, all the way up until Game 7 of the NBA Finals, kept Thunder fans on the edge of their seats.
“The Thunder championship run was gut-wrenching. It was exhausting for fans,” Holt added. “After staring at the game results for a month, I think I can explain more clearly why you felt that way, and why this title run was, in fact, unique in NBA history. Our Thunder faced deficits in series to a degree that I believe may be unprecedented for an eventual champion.”
Our revels now are ended. In the next post, some final thoughts (for now) about our NBA Champion Thunder and a case for why they are the most resilient champions in NBA history. pic.twitter.com/l4uCJVZpc3
— Mayor David Holt (@davidfholt) July 31, 2025
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder receive full-day honor
After Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander received a full-day honor following winning MVP of the 2024-25 campaign, Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt did the same for the entire team after winning the NBA Finals. Holt reassigned SGA's Day to July 30 before highlighting the degree of difficulty the Thunder endured en route to winning the franchise's first championship.
“To make a comeback in a series is more difficult than coming back in a single game, and the Thunder did it FOUR times,” Holt said. “The Thunder fell behind 0-1 and 1-2 in both the Nuggets and Pacers series. My hypothesis is that trailing in a series that many times en route to an NBA title has to be either unprecedented or very rare.”
The Thunder will raise its championship banner on 2025-26's Opening Night at the Paycom Center.
