Mussatto: OKC Thunder at base of second mountain, ready for another climb up NBA ranks

The historical landscape of the Thunder is that of two mountains connected by a short valley. It’s an analogy Sam Presti uses often.

As general manager, Presti guided the first iteration of the Thunder — Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Co. — up that first mountain. They reached the second-highest of peaks, making the NBA Finals in 2012 and four conference finals in a six-year span.

After a near decade of relevance, 10 playoff appearances in 11 years, came the descent into the Valley of Teardowns.

Now, only four years removed from its last playoff appearance, the Thunder has started ascending the second mountain far sooner than anticipated. The Thunder (57-25) is the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and will host Game 1 of its first-round matchup with the Pelicans at 8:30 p.m. Sunday in Oklahoma City.

What’s remarkable is how much this Thunder squad mirrors that of the original Thunder. It was Durant, Westbrook and Harden then. It’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren now.

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Two young squads, oozing with talent, too naive to know they don’t quite belong.

“When I think back to where we started in 2008, we were looking up a pretty steep mountain,” Presti said in September 2022. “We didn't have a team name. We had no uniforms. Some would argue we didn't have much of a team at the time.

“But we climbed the mountain. We fought it as long as we could. We stayed up there for a long time. We had a pretty good run of sustained success, and now we're facing another climb.”

Seven months later, in April 2023, Presti gave a progress report on the second climb.

“I talked about the mountain, the second mountain,” he said. “We’re staring that sucker down.”

A year later, what once seemed far off on the horizon has come into focus.

It feels like deja vu.

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The Thunder has evolved with the times and its cast of characters has changed, but the franchise’s draft-and-develop identity is the same now as it was in 2008. Presti was the architect behind both builds, using the exact language and stressing the same principles now as he did 16 years ago.

With playoff banners being raised around the city and free T-shirts being draped over seats, there’s a strong sense of nostalgia. It’s as if being back in this spot has made everyone reflect more fondly than ever on those early teams. If so, the appreciation is long overdue.

Those first Thunder teams elevated the city’s status and strengthened civic pride. Soon, the Thunder will be playing in a new, billion dollar arena. Places that border Paycom Center like the Omni Hotel, Oklahoma City Convention Center and Scissortail Park? None of them existed the last time the Thunder hosted a playoff game.

SGA was 13 years old when the Thunder made the 2012 NBA Finals. Williams was 11. Holmgren had barely turned 10. And Mark Daigneault? The soon-to-be NBA Coach of the Year was an assistant to the assistant to the assistant of Billy Donovan at the University of Florida.

While Presti sees the wide-lens view, it’s just the opposite for Daigneault and the players. They aren’t trying to follow the path Durant and Westbrook forged more than a decade ago.

“I think it’s important that we appreciate the history, the players appreciate the history … we should all feel like we have to live up to a certain standard that was set by early people in the organization,” Daigneault said. “But it’s also important to let this team breathe its own air and chart its own course and write its own story.”

As for how much Daigneault talks to his team about the Thunder days of yore?

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“Very little,” he said.

“I want it to be its own unique thing,” Jalen Williams said.

“I don’t think about them at all,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of past Thunder teams.

It’s not like Gilgeous-Alexander said it with ill intent. It was a matter of fact.

“They have obviously done amazing things with this game, and have done amazing things for this city, pioneers, clearly, but trying to draw comparisons, it doesn’t help us or do anything for myself and us as a group,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

“Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Thabo Sefolosha, Serge Ibaka, none of them are on this basketball team, and none of them can help us no matter how great of things they did in the past.”

Gilgeous-Alexander and his crew have to make their own climb.

It’s a different mountain, after all. The second mountain.

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Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder at base of second mountain, ready for another climb