THUNDER UP!

I will always think about how great the Utah Jazz were during the coaching tenure of Jerry Sloan. The successful head man during his time with the franchise from 1988 through 2011, his teams made six Western Conference Finals and two NBA Finals, but never won an NBA title while at Utah.  The  Jazz were in the playoffs all but three times in his time there, not including his final year in 2011, when he resigned before the season was over.  Utah was the consistent winner in the Western Conference, and the team was a viable contender during the 14 years he was the man in Utah. 

The question that came up with Utah at the time was the Jazz better off  to be a long-term winner, always in the hunt, or rather a franchise that would win a title, then goes years as a losing team, until another possible winning team would come around?  Utah took the road of being a perennial winning franchise, even if it did not win a title.  There were not down years to speak of, and Sloan and the Jazz did their best to be that consistent winner.  OKC is where the Jazz were currently, but one better. OKC is the champs.

Today, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the current NBA champions, and, for me, a fan of this team, say “World’s Champions”, are in their defending year of that title.   The team on Reno Street in OKC is in the best place it has ever been, and with the brightest future of any professional franchise in North America, any sport, any league.

Set up for the future, the fans in the “Big Town” need not worry if this is another championship team or not.  The Oklahoma City Thunder has done the Utah Jazz one better. Utah never won the NBA title, OKC did. And OKC is as viable and steady a team as one can be.  With the best General Manager working today, Sam Presti, with respect to the man in Miami, OKC continues to set the high bar in professional sports winning, and that will not change for many a year.

This is the good times for OKC, and do not worry.  Win or lose in the 2026 playoffs, OKC is still in the early stages of something special. Enjoy what you have, as nothing is ever a given in sport.  There are 29 other teams in the Association that are wanting what OKC has today.

All Photos:  Feb 20, 2026; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images© Alonzo Adams, Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images