Shai Gilgeous-Alexander explains motivation for Thunder's hot start: 'I didn't like the way we won' NBA title

The Oklahoma City Thunder are off to a 9-1 start to the 2025-26 NBA season, giving them the best record in the league in their pursuit of back-to-back titles.  

Their performance in the first 10 games has ensured there is no talk about a championship hangover in OKC, as they look even more dominant than the team that won 68 games in the regular season a year ago. That's particularly impressive for a young team that had never won a title before and could have easily spent their summer celebrating and expected to do it again. 

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Brad Botkin

After their win over Sacramento on Friday night, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander explained how the Thunder used their playoff run to fuel a hot start rather than letting their championship victory make them comfortable. 

"Honestly speaking, I didn't like the way we won, if that makes sense," said Gilgeous-Alexander. "I didn't think we won an NBA championship playing our best basketball. And that was the first time we'd been that far in the playoffs, so it was a learning experience for us, but it takes another level of focus, discipline, assertiveness, aggression, to like, be who we were in the regular season and do that throughout the postseason. 

"I think we were definitely more dominant in the regular season than the postseason," Gilgeous-Alexander added. "So yeah, that was the biggest thing for me. And for me, as well as a player, I don't think I was as good in the postseason as I was in the regular season. Now, it naturally happens when you play a team seven times in a row, and they get to scout seven times in a row. But I feel like I could have been better, so I try to control that. And then that mentality I guess just trickles over to the team stuff."

This echoes Mark Daigneault's comments earlier this year in which he explained the message in the OKC gym all offseason has been to "look at this season as if we lost in the second round -- if we lost Game 7 in Denver." 

The Thunder were pushed to seven games twice in their run to a title, first in the second round against the Nuggets and then again in the Finals against Indiana. After winning 68 games and looking like a buzzsaw on both sides of the ball, Oklahoma City learned firsthand how difficult it is to sustain that kind of performance in the postseason, nearly getting caught twice en route to the title. 

The result of their approach this year has been the Thunder once again leading the league with a 106.4 defensive rating and pairing that with the sixth-ranked offense.

On a personal level, Gilgeous-Alexander saw his efficiency dip from his MVP performance in the regular season in the playoffs -- 49.4 effective field goal percentage in the playoffs after a 56.9 eFG% in the regular season. As the leader of the team, he's put it on himself to set the tone and come out with the same level of focus and intensity this season after winning MVP, Finals MVP and a championship as he did last year when he was still hunting for his first of all of those accolades. 

When the guy who accomplished all of that individually takes that approach, it's hard for the rest of the team not to follow. The young Thunder don't appear worn out by last year's deep playoff run and have the luxury of the league's deepest roster to lean on, maintaining their spot atop the NBA standings even without their second-best player, Jalen Williams, playing yet. 

Alignment in messaging from their coach and best player has kept them focused and determined to prove last year was only the beginning and that they can be even better.