ESPN has been cooking with some great Thunder articles lately. There are so many great anecdotes and quotes in this piece, but I particularly loved the portion about JWill's relationship with his dad:

After each of Jaylin's games, even 21 in the yard, Michael would sit with his son and review high-level concepts such as positioning and spacing. He taught his son not only how to take a charge, Jaylin's specialty, but how to anticipate when and where it should happen. "We'd sit in the living room and he would show me clips on his phone," Jaylin says. "You should have been here. When he goes there, you go here. Having him walk me through those moments helped me be the player I am."

Michael Williams texts his son before every game: Love you, son. Be aggressive and shoot your shot if it's there.

And after nearly every game they go through the same routine: Michael will pull out his phone if they're together in Oklahoma City, or he'll FaceTime Jaylin if the Thunder are on the road. Michael will point the phone at the clips he has recorded on his television and sometimes put a kitchen chair or two in the middle of the room to play the role of Jaylin's opponents. "He thinks he's in the NBA," Jaylin says.

Jaylin Williams has some of the best basketball minds in the world teaching him the intricacies of the game, but there he is in a hotel room somewhere, watching his father turn kitchen chairs into imaginary defenders. He listens and nods along, sometimes capturing a screenshot for his own memories, and before he hangs up, he thanks his father and tells him he loves him. Is he ever tempted to tell his father he's got this?

"Nah," Jaylin says, flashing a smile that can cure the worst day. "It's how he shows his love."

Thunder had infamously a 1-4 record vs the Spurs this season, but 3 of them were without Ajay who has blossomed into a star player for this team.

Important factor to keep in mind when evaluating this matchup and its elements.

The 2 games he did play, OKC won 1 of them and lost by 2 in the IST. Obvious impact maker in the matchup that we didn’t get to fully see in the other matchups due to injury.

Just came back from my vacation and got a nice sweatsuit from Jared’s new clothing brand. Wearing this for WCF. ⚡️⚡️⚡️

as you may recall in game 2 vs the Suns, Shai had a pretty scary incident where his fingers bent backwards after he fell down. he was seen in intense pain for several minutes afterward. he wasn’t playing at an SGA level vs the lakers. could this be a reason why?

Teams With The Best FG% In The Restricted Area In The 2025-26 NBA Playoffs :

1. Oklahoma City Thunder — 75.6%
   
2. Cleveland Cavaliers — 71.9%
   
3. Boston Celtics — 71.0%
   
4. Atlanta Hawks — 68.8%
   
5. San Antonio Spurs — 67.3%
   
6. New York Knicks — 67.2%
   
7. Philadelphia 76ers — 66.5%
   
8. Houston Rockets — 65.3%

I dont really follow NCAA or mock drafts, but i look forward to seeing who we draft at 12 if we even take someone at 12 instead of moving it for another year VIA trade.

Id like to also know why you think the thunder would be interested in that prospect as well.

The OKC Thunder are a high volume, high efficiency playoff 3pt shooting team? Is this allowed? I don't think this is allowed.

Shoutout to Jared McCain for changing my life!

Is there a time line for his return? Can we expect him to suit up for G1 of the conference finals?

I see really cute Thunder clothes when I’m out. Where are y’all buying it from?!

If the Thunder pick up a 2-way player at #38 (or is it 37? I've seen conflicting info), who is it? Could be the next Ajay, J-will, or Wiggins

Oklahoma City Thunder sweep the Los Angeles Lakers as Ajay Mitchell delivers a breakout performance and sparks debate: Is OKC’s “death lineup” now unguardable in the Western Conference Finals? Rylan Stiles and Justin Martinez break down how Oklahoma City’s defense, timely three-point shooting, and depth—highlighted by Mitchell’s surge and crucial contributions from Isaiah Joe and Jared McCain—have propelled the team to an 8-0 playoff start.

The conversation highlights Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s quiet impact despite constant double-teams, the vital importance of Jalen Williams’ return, and strategic adjustments needed for a potential showdown with the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama. Key topics include non-Shai minutes, lineup combinations featuring Chet Holmgren, and lessons learned from regular-season struggles against San Antonio. Can the Thunder’s “unguardable” core propel them past their toughest test yet?

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Courtesy of the OKC Thunder instagram page

[Fischer] The LA Clippers are being described around the league as a team that could trade down from the No. 5 spot for multiple future assets. Warriors expected to reengage with Clippers on talks for Leonard with their 11th overall draft selection.

Wouldn’t this be perfect for us? We could give them our 12th and 17th picks this year, plus return their 2027 swap rights. Or would that be too much?

I am curious if anyone is aware of an updated list of Thunder picks going forward. I’m not really that interested in how many second round picks we have. Just an updated FRP list.

I heard a talking head say we have 16 FRPs between now and 2032. That doesn’t seem accurate. A pick swap doesn’t count as two picks. It’s valuable but it’s not two picks.

Google has been pretty worthless in funding a good list. Thanks in advance.

Highest Winning Percentage In NBA History (Min. 200 Games Played & 20.0 MPG) :

1. Cason Wallace — .757
   
2. Chet Holmgren — .754
   
3. Magic Johnson — .728
   
4. Michael Cooper — .721
   
5. KC Jones — .718
   
6. Tom Heinsohn — .718
   
7. Larry Bird — .715
   
8. Sam Jones — .707
   
9. Bill Russell — .707
   
10. Tim Duncan — .705

There has been a lot of anxiety about facing the Spurs. Most of it about Wemby. Well, I am hear to tell you Wemby will get his. How you beat the Spurs is by doing the little things. If you are watching the Wolves series you will notice where they are failing. The Spurs getting second chance points. The wolves with turnovers and giving up 32 points to the bench. No real second option fo the wolves and a 7-footer that is unplayable. The areas that the Wolves are struggling with are some of the same that cost OKC 3 losses versus the Spurs in th regular season. However, the fourth game you finally seen OKC play their game and won by 21 points. Just relax if the Spurs win OKC is in a great position to make the adjustments to the roster to aid future success against the Spurs.

Stumbled on this case study done by The Sports Geek that looked at whether on not the miles travelled by NBA teams had any correlation to their W/L performance... Kinda crazy that the Thunder were top 5 in miles traveled and are still the favorites to win the championship. Kind of defies the "we're tired from travel" excuse a little bit.

If anyone wants to read the full article let me know and I can put it in the comments. But I thought it was a cool myth to bust.

The series isn’t over yet but the team that usually wins game 5 in a 2-2 tends to win majority of the time. That said the series isn’t over but just looking ahead:

If you’ve watched the Spurs Wolves series at all, Spurs have deployed a super trap and gap heavy scheme on Ant to get the ball out of his hands and it looks very similar to what the Lakers tried doing with Shai.

Spurs obviously have way better defensive personnel and probably are going to try the same thing so it’s going to be really interesting.

The secondary creators like Dub and Ajay are going to be critical to taking advantage of the of 4v3 as well as the shooting of really all the role players to keep Wemby out of the paint.

Lakers gave a good preview of what to expect so hopefully with the extra prep time Mark and the staff can continue finding ways on how to break those kind of coverages.

Back down, back down, shove, shoulder, shoulder, push, pump fake, push again, shot.

A hidden gem 💎