Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder have been dominant this season, but doubts remain about their ability to win a title.
Among the skeptics is former NBA star Gordon Hayward, who believes the Thunder will reach the NBA Finals but ultimately fall short.
Gordon Hayward Explains Why He’d Pick the Celtics Over the Thunder
While talking with Basketball Insiders’ DJ Siddiqi, Hayward expressed his belief that the Thunder will make the 2025 NBA Finals but added that the reigning champions will beat them.
”I’ll just take the easy answer here and say [Boston] Celtics-Thunder and Celtics repeat as champions,” Hayward said.
Hayward, who played for both the Thunder and the Celtics, explained further why he believed the Celtics would win the title and why the Thunder would lose, saying the Celtics have one advantage that other teams like the Thunder don’t.
“I personally think [the Celtics are] still the favorites,” Hayward said. “I think that come playoff time … they certainly have that experience. No doubt winning last year, but even the experiences when I was there with [Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown], losing in the playoffs, those are big deals. Those are the things you can’t teach and things that you have to go through.”
Winning an NBA title is often a process. Even teams as talented as the Thunder typically need to gain experience by losing before reaching the mountaintop. The Celtics, for example, lost to the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals before defeating the Dallas Mavericks two years later. A major factor was experience, as the Warriors had already won three titles with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
Though he doesn’t believe the Thunder will win, Hayward explained why his pick for MVP this season is Gilgeous-Alexander, even though he knows it’s a two-man race.
“If you had to pick somebody right now, it would probably be Shai, just because their team is so good and they’re No. 1 in the West right now,” Hayward said.
“It’s so hard to choose between him or [Nikola] Jokić. The stuff that both of them do, Jokić is averaging a triple-double. I saw Jokić had a 30-20-20 game, which is mind-blowing to think about. It seems like he doesn’t even try when he’s out there. I think you probably have to give it to Shai because of the way his team is doing.”
The Thunder were Hayward’s final NBA team before he retired in 2024. His time in Oklahoma City didn’t go as planned, but that doesn’t mean his time there influenced how he believes things will turn out.