The OKC Thunder may not have won back-to-back NBA Championships like they set out to do in 2025-26, but their experience taking home the Larry O'Brien Trophy the year before seemingly played a major role in the Knicks winning it all this past season.
During a recent edition of the Roomates Show, hosted by Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, New York's head coach Mike Brown revealed that throughout the club's title run, the player who helped him and, ultimately, the team navigate the noise and pressures of chasing a championship was one of the few players who had experience doing it before: former Thunder first-round pick Dillon Jones.
"Dillon was fabulous. I spoke to Dillon often during this playoff run because he had just gone through it with Oklahoma City. And, so I said, 'Hey, when you guys were in this position, what was Mark [Daigneault] saying? What was Sam Presti saying? What were you guys saying to each other? What do you think here,'" Brown admitted.
The two-time Coach of the Year would also reveal that Jones was the inspiration for the now-famous idea of Brown having the video department edit together a short video focusing on the team's individual reactions from the year before, directly after they lost in six games to Indiana during the conference finals in an effort to motivate them ahead of their round three series against Cleveland.
And where did Jones come up with such an idea, you may be wondering? Through his experience with the Thunder, of course!
"[Jones] wanted to show still shots because [the Thunder] did something similar to that [in the 2025 postseason] because they lost from the year before. We just took it to another level," Brown said.
Former Thunder wing continues to find his legacy growing after year two
It seems that with every passing day, Jones' professional career continues to become more and more impressive from a resume standpoint.
Even before this reveal from coach Brown, the sophomore had already found himself sticking out among his peers in the recent-history record books.
In an era celebrated for its parity, Jones stands alone, as he officially became the first player to be a part of back-to-back championship runs since Danny Green did so in 2019 and 2020 with the Raptors and Lakers, respectively.
Considering there have now been a record eight different teams to win a title over the last eight consecutive seasons, accomplishing such a feat deserves the utmost attention and, as the Knicks headman noted, his role in New York's title run was far from a mere seat filler and practice player.
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