A ton of parallels have been drawn between this current iteration of the OKC Thunder and the one that was headlined by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden from 2009 to 2012.
From accomplishing tremendous success at such a young collective age to seeing MVP-worthy seasons from their respective head honchos (Durant in 2014 and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in 2025), the comparisons are regularly buzzed about, and have been for several seasons now.
Both cores even managed to clinch the franchise's only two trips to the NBA Finals during the Sooner State era.
Now, while this 2025 version led by Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren ultimately wound up separating itself from the previous regime by actually winning a championship, during a recent appearance on the Mind the Game podcast, Durant brought up a daunting truth he realized about success at such a young age that OKC must understand in order to avoid.
Kevin Durant inadvertently warns Thunder of 'exceeding expectations'
Winning is far from a guarantee in the NBA. Regardless of how well a team manages to fare in one season, repeating such successes the next year is by no means a given.
Kevin Durant admitted to learning this the hard way during his tenure with the Thunder, particularly after their loss to the Miami Heat in the 2012 NBA Finals, where he stated that they "exceeded expectations with that team" and stubbornly believed that more trips to the title round would be on the horizon.
Sadly, during the four years that followed, the farthest Oklahoma City would go in the NBA Playoffs was round three. In his sit-down with podcast hosts LeBron James and Steve Nash, Durant shared his thoughts on why they could never make their highly anticipated return to the Finals.
"My theory is I don't think they were ready for us to be contenders every year. Since we reached the Finals, you're supposed to upgrade, fine-tune, and make changes... I just think they were kind of shocked with how good we got so fast," Durant.
Though this Thunder team may have actually been able to thrust themselves over the hump and take home the Larry O'Brien Trophy unlike their Durant-led predecessor, the description of "exceeding expectations" at such a young age is certainly fitting for both.
With an average age of 25.6 years, Oklahoma City became the second-youngest team in NBA history to win a championship in 2024-25.
Clearly, such a feat at this stage in their current era is unprecedented. Because of this, the approach for such a team to move forward is also technically uncharted territory.
However, from both his experience with OKC's previous follies and multiple title runs as a member of the Golden State Warriors, Durant provided some wisdom on how Sam Presti and company can capitalize on their current situation by saying "you need to spend money if you want to be in contention every year."
Already, the front office seems to be busy doing exactly that.
They just signed Gilgeous-Alexander to a historic contract extension on Tuesday morning. This comes just days after the Thunder locked up guys like Jaylin Williams and Ajay Mitchell to new paydays and is likely to be followed up with brand new deals for J-Dub and Holmgren in the coming days.
Needless to say, everything appears to be running smoothly in the spending department. The next objective is to find ways to "upgrade," as Durant put it, over these next few months and throughout the years to come.
Learning from past mistakes will be key for this ball club to avoid regressing after finally reaching the promised land. Fortunately, KD believes the Thunder are "prepared" this time around.