During Tuesday's matchup against the LA Clippers, the NBA on NBC color commentators revealed recent comments made by coach Mark Daigneault that serve as a stark reminder of just how scary this OKC Thunder core is shaping up to be.
In the early stages of the second quarter, Hall of Famer turned game analyst Reggie Miller mentioned how Oklahoma City's headman told him this year's roster is "the oldest team I've ever coached."
Though Daigneault almost certainly said this with a tongue-in-cheek tone, the fact of the matter is that this quote reinforces just how ridiculous the amount of success this Thunder team has already achieved is and further highlights why they're viewed as being on the cusp of becoming the game's next great dynasty.
Despite enviable success, Thunder are still one of youngest teams in NBA
After becoming the youngest team to win back-to-back number one seeds in the Western Conference and, more importantly, the second-youngest team to win an NBA Championship just last season, the Thunder came into their 2025-26 title-defense campaign with the sixth-youngest roster in the entire league at 24.53 years.
Currently, they have just four players on the roster above the age of 26, and just two who are 30 and over.
More impressive, nearly half of the players on their payroll are still earning rookie-scale salaries, a reality that, with their slew of incoming draft capital over the next several years, hints at the team's strategy to avoid the second apron even with the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren all inking max extensions this past summer.
Of course, regardless of their youthfulness as a whole, in just a span of six years this Daigneault-led Oklahoma City squad finds itself sporting the kind of experience some 50+ year-old franchises like the Phoenix Suns and and Utah Jazz still have not come across.
Now, directly after bringing home their first Larry O'Brien Trophy of the Sooner State era, the Thunder are currently undefeated at 8-0, with their latest triumph ironically coming against the oldest team in the association, the Clippers.
Just last week, SGA made the bold claim that he strongly believes OKC is "definitely a better team now than we were a year ago," citing the fact that this same core that brought home a title in 2024-25 now has "had a year to play together" as the main reason for why.
Considering the roster's average age is roughly 25 and has multiple players already locked into multi-year contracts, it should be expected that they'll add many more years of experience playing alongside one another, which, in turn, should only make their chemistry stronger and their on-court play all the more dominant moving forward.