Despite claiming the number one seed in the Western Conference, the OKC Thunder still seemed a bit too green for league experts and personalities to take them seriously as a legitimate title contender heading into the 2024 postseason.
Unfortunately for Oklahoma City and their faithful followers, these beliefs ultimately proved to be true, as they were bounced from the second round by the more experienced and physically dominant Dallas Mavericks in six games.
Of course, though their ouster was certainly an upset to the franchise, considering their enviable average age as a collective of just 23.4, this close-knit, highly talented core is only expected to continue strengthening their claim as being considered a championship favorite over the next several years and, during a recent appearance on FanDuel's Run it Back, fourth-year guard Isaiah Joe issued a strong take on the state of this Thunder team following their challenging yet vital playoff excursion.
Isaiah Joe claims Thunder are 'championship built' heading into 2024-25
"I think after going through the playoff series this year, I think coming up next season we will be championship-built because we just had a whole team of inexperienced guys in the postseason, so now that we have the experience we can't really beat that. I think everyone's going to have a chip on their shoulder going into the next season because you don't want to lose and I think that left a sore spot. Going into next season, I think we'll be much better built."Isaiah Joe
“After going through the playoff series this year, I think coming up next season we will be championship built…”@zai_joe1 on the OKC Thunder ⚡ pic.twitter.com/78nTUKb8DZ
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) June 4, 2024
Despite their shortcomings, this Thunder team still managed to achieve an astounding amount of success that often made its way into the record books.
Not only did they claim their first playoff series win since the Kevin Durant era, but they managed to become the youngest team in league history to both advance to the second round and clinch a number one seed in a conference standings.
Adding experience under the bright lights of the NBA Postseason for the vast majority of Mark Daigneault's youthful core will likely stand to benefit them moving forward and this coupled with a few tweaks to the rotation this summer will only help aid in their case for being considered a top-flight contender in 2024-25.