Though the OKC Thunder may not have been able to win their second-straight NBA Championship this season, former first-round pick Dillon Jones finds himself on the brink of personally doing so as a member of the Knicks.
Following Wednesday night's historic comeback win over the San Antonio Spurs, New York finds itself up 3-1 in the 2026 NBA Finals with an opportunity to close things out Saturday down in the Lone Star State.
Jones, the 26 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, was a part of the title-winning Thunder team just a season ago.
Now, after being traded last June to the Wizards, where he would be waived just four months later, the forward finds himself on the Knicks, attached to a two-way deal.
Despite not being a full-scale player, as someone such as Branden Carlson can attest, should New York ultimately prevail and take home their first Larry O'Brien Trophy since 1973, Jones would certainly find himself adding yet another championship ring to his collection.
In such an event, the 24-year-old would become the first player to win back-to-back titles since Danny Green accomplished such a feat in 2019 and 2020 with the Raptors and Lakers, respectively.
Thunder need to solve 'Victor Wembanyama problem' to win another title
Jones may be in line to win another ring before the Thunder do, but it goes without saying that Oklahoma City already has its eyes set on next year's title.
Of course, in order to get back to the mountain top, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic believes they must solve their "Victor Wembanyama problem."
Considering the way the Spurs' center dominated OKC en route to a seven-game series win in the Western Conference Finals, it's hard to argue with such a statement.
To the draft guru, the solution to said dilemma may be as simple as drafting Kentucky big man, Jayden Quaintance, with their 17 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Of course, to others, the best approach could very well be to just stand pat and wait for someone like last year's first-round pick, Thomas Sorber, to get the green light to return to action after missing the entire 2025-26 campaign with a torn ACL and join fellow stud bigs Chet Holmgren and (assuming his services are retained) Isaiah Hartenstein.
Though this latter concept may not be as exciting as snatching up someone like Quaintance, who's widely considered the best defender in the 2026 class, let's not forget that even without a healthy Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell for the majority of the series, the Thunder still managed to push the Spurs to Game 7, and only lost by eight points.
In the end, perhaps all they really need to solve the aforementioned Wemby problem is health.
Regardless of what approach they opt to take this summer, fans should expect to see this Thunder team back near the top of the championship odds leaderboard essentially as soon as this year's NBA Finals come to a close.
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