Latest / Bleacher Report / OKC Thunder Players Speak Before the Championship Parade 🎤

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OKC Thunder Players Speak Before the Championship Parade 🎤 · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Please join me in welcoming to the podium. First stop,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Aaron Wiggins.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Okay see oh cay see oh ca see oh Cary
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: see oh see.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Man, oh man. What a journey? What a journey? Was
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: it worth it? To start off?
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: We gotta show love to the greats and the legends
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: who wore Oklahoma City across their chests and set the
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: foundation before us so that we can celebrate today.
• 1:02
  Speaker 5: I came in as a fifty fifth pick.
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: Oh Nick Pollison put that to that punt?
• 1:12
  Speaker 6: That yah, come on, man, come on then yeah, man, man,
• 1:32
  Speaker 6: it was a word.
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: I came in as a fifty fifth pick in the
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty one Drive and my rookie season, we won
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: twenty four games, twenty four games. But the best part
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: about coming from that that year is that the same
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: people in this arena today celebrating this championship were the
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: same people there when.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: We were winning twenty four games.
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: It was a point where they tried to call us
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: the black hole of the NBA.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: Boom.
• 2:25
  Speaker 7: But four years later, when they mentioned a thunder organization,
• 2:31
  Speaker 7: when they mentioned clayp in It, when they mentioned Sam Percy,
• 2:34
  Speaker 7: when they mentioned Mark Bagna, ain't every single one of
• 2:37
  Speaker 7: you in this arena.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: They gotta mention you to me, ain't Sam and I.
• 3:05
  Speaker 8: Alay, Hey, can we give it a more more time
• 3:23
  Speaker 8: for hair wigans more more.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: More, we're talking one more? All right, where's Louis? I
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: gotta ask this a question, Lou, I got you. Lou
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: You've been with this team for six seasons the start
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: of this run. When you think of the journey of
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: what it took for this team to.
• 4:13
  Speaker 9: Get to where they are right now, what it takes
• 4:16
  Speaker 9: took a lot, a lot of hot work, like a
• 4:20
  Speaker 9: lot of sacrifice.
• 4:21
  Speaker 10: I mean it was. It weren't easy. I mean, like
• 4:23
  Speaker 10: like Wigg said, those those years, it is tough. And
• 4:25
  Speaker 10: not look at us.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: You're a great example. You're a great example of just
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: grit fight. You had to scratch and claw for everything
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: you got in this league, undrafted, started as a two
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: way player, and now first team All Defense. Yeah, what
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: does this mean for you?
• 4:56
  Speaker 5: Lou? It means a lot.
• 4:58
  Speaker 10: I mean my people, U, our family, I mean in
• 5:01
  Speaker 10: the whole city. I mean we really deserved this. And
• 5:02
  Speaker 10: not look at us. We're here now, Loud.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Tell me about this team and how special it is
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: to experience this with them and my brothers.
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: I'm brothers. I'm all dogs. I'm all dogs.
• 5:17
  Speaker 10: Huh oh no, I mean it's it's it's crazy. I
• 5:21
  Speaker 10: mean we really fought hard. I mean, associated it wasn't easy,
• 5:24
  Speaker 10: but you know, we really didn't.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Lou, thank you so much. Congratulations. Let's welcome up ac
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Alex Carusso.
• 5:50
  Speaker 11: Yes, you got questions for me too, I don't want one.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Some questions I got you?
• 5:57
  Speaker 11: Yeah, please?
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: You joined this team in the office season, coach Dagnell said,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: it feels like you and Isaiah Harnstein feels like y'all
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: have been a part of this team for three years.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: How are you able to integrate so fast with this group?
• 6:10
  Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean it's just a great it's a great
• 6:11
  Speaker 11: group of guys.
• 6:12
  Speaker 12: Like I got to go to work every day, and
• 6:14
  Speaker 12: when I showed up here in September, uh, just getting
• 6:18
  Speaker 12: to hang around the dudes and playing like pick up
• 6:20
  Speaker 12: before a training camp. I figured out quickly that like
• 6:23
  Speaker 12: this is a special group of players, you know, just
• 6:25
  Speaker 12: from like a sense of competition and like and like
• 6:29
  Speaker 12: showing up to work every day and going to work,
• 6:31
  Speaker 12: and that's what I'm about.
• 6:32
  Speaker 11: That's why I'm here, you know.
• 6:34
  Speaker 12: Nine years later, uh, we won a championship. Like now
• 6:37
  Speaker 12: we're standing up here on the stage talking about this
• 6:39
  Speaker 12: is crazy.
• 6:41
  Speaker 11: It's crazy.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Guys know this, but this is Alex Cruso's second NBA title,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: but two times. But it's just this first championship parade.
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: How much you've been I'm excited right now.
• 7:03
  Speaker 12: I just told I just told Dub and Lou I said,
• 7:05
  Speaker 12: this is the first thing I've gotten to celebrate for
• 7:07
  Speaker 12: like do for the first time with this group, Like
• 7:09
  Speaker 12: this is my first experience.
• 7:10
  Speaker 11: I'm so hyped. I'm ready to go on it. I'm
• 7:12
  Speaker 11: ready to get on the bus.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Last thing for you, A see, this crowd has been
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: so endeared to you. What does this mean? What does
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: this crowd meant to you since you've been here?
• 7:23
  Speaker 12: Man, y'all are the best. I'll tell you what. Like
• 7:25
  Speaker 12: I showed up. Uh yeah, give it up for yourselves,
• 7:30
  Speaker 12: Give it up for yourselves. Give yourself a hand. Y'all
• 7:32
  Speaker 12: deserve it. Man, y'all. You know I I uh, like
• 7:41
  Speaker 12: we said, I was here nine years ago as an
• 7:44
  Speaker 12: exhibiting and I got to I got to just experience
• 7:46
  Speaker 12: it from the outside looking in and to come back
• 7:50
  Speaker 12: here I knew, you know, playing here over the years,
• 7:53
  Speaker 12: this place always gets juiced no matter how good the
• 7:55
  Speaker 12: team was, how bad the team was, what was going on.
• 7:58
  Speaker 12: You know, they had the they had the electric electricity
• 8:01
  Speaker 12: thunder thing going on.
• 8:02
  Speaker 11: Everybody's excited. Y'all are doing your thing.
• 8:05
  Speaker 12: And so I knew when I when I got traded here,
• 8:07
  Speaker 12: just to be a part of this and to get
• 8:10
  Speaker 12: to play in front of this type of arena, like
• 8:12
  Speaker 12: this type of fan base, this is what I live for,
• 8:14
  Speaker 12: Like this is what I feed off of. I think
• 8:15
  Speaker 12: there was a great uh mutual energy share between me
• 8:19
  Speaker 12: and the crowd this year, and that's that's a big
• 8:21
  Speaker 12: reason why. You know, we talked about it as a
• 8:24
  Speaker 12: team two game sevens at home, like y'all are the difference.
• 8:26
  Speaker 11: You know, y'all are y'all are part of the reason
• 8:28
  Speaker 11: why we won this thing.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: So thank you, thank you everybody, ac congratulations.
• 8:34
  Speaker 11: Appreciate y'all.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: Can we get.
• 8:42
  Speaker 13: Keso to come up to the stage.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: How you feel like, ke Tho?
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: I feel good.
• 9:01
  Speaker 14: You know, everybody always saying that I look like a rapper,
• 9:03
  Speaker 14: So I was gonna you know, job a fee bonds, So.
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm gonna chill. I'm gonna chill. I feel good
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: right now.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Case, And I think it's hard for everyone to remember
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: that this is just your second NBA season. What has
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: this journey been like for you?
• 9:18
  Speaker 14: You know, I came in to a great team already,
• 9:21
  Speaker 14: so just learning from these guys from the first day
• 9:24
  Speaker 14: that I stepped in the door.
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: It actually started before that.
• 9:28
  Speaker 14: You know, when I came out here for my little
• 9:31
  Speaker 14: interview or whatever, my job interview, they showed me they
• 9:36
  Speaker 14: treated me like I was a part of the team already.
• 9:38
  Speaker 14: And you know, ever since I got drafted, the guys
• 9:40
  Speaker 14: you know hit me up, you know, saying it was
• 9:43
  Speaker 14: ready to get to work and all that. So I'm
• 9:45
  Speaker 14: just glad that I'm a part of this team and
• 9:47
  Speaker 14: I'm I'm able to experience this with these guys, Katese.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: So tell me about what it's like to experience this
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: alongside your brothers right here.
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: It's great.
• 10:03
  Speaker 14: You know, I've seen them put the work in, they
• 10:05
  Speaker 14: seen me put the work in. So all of us
• 10:07
  Speaker 14: being able to live out our dreams at a different
• 10:10
  Speaker 14: point in our career something that not everybody gets to accomplish.
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: So it's just great, Case.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: And congratulations, Thank you so much.
• 10:17
  Speaker 10: Thank you.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Where's Kenny Hustle?
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: Okay, you see what's up?
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: That means what's up? He's annoying, man, thanks annoying. I'm
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: gonna just say a few things.
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: Hey, God is good for sure, and I want to
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: say this too.
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: We done played in every areada in this in this league,
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: and you guys are the best fans in the world.
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: Man, I promise you that. That's all I gotta say.
• 10:50
  Speaker 11: Thank y'all.
• 10:58
  Speaker 15: Chat, Come on down, Oh heavy, Now, I got it,
• 11:28
  Speaker 15: I got it, we got.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Check. Your journey has been far from easy. You have
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: experienced broken bones, bruises, ups down, tighs, lows. What did
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: it take for you to get to here in this
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: moment right now?
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: Took everybody that's in here. It started.
• 11:54
  Speaker 16: It started with play Sam and Mark for believing in
• 11:58
  Speaker 16: enough to bring me here in the first place, because
• 12:02
  Speaker 16: without them, I'm never even here.
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: All right, let me lock in?
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Do you want we want? Should we put you on
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: the micro right out?
• 12:11
  Speaker 14: Dude?
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Ah?
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but yeah, I just gotta say thank you.
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: To those three.
• 12:16
  Speaker 16: First, and then after that, it's all my teammates. Without them,
• 12:22
  Speaker 16: none of this is possible. It's really a full team.
• 12:24
  Speaker 17: Effort.
• 12:25
  Speaker 16: Uh, and then from there it takes the fans in
• 12:27
  Speaker 16: the city. They bring it every single night, so we
• 12:29
  Speaker 16: gotta do the same thing.
• 12:30
  Speaker 11: And I'm.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: And I'm sure y'all gonna bring it today too. Congratulations,
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: Jen Jay Dub.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: What have the last forty eight hours been like for you?
• 12:57
  Speaker 11: For me? Alcohol for the first time, So that was cool.
• 13:07
  Speaker 9: Oh, I'm pretty sure there's gonna be pretty more of
• 13:10
  Speaker 9: that coming up. So but it's been surreal. God is
• 13:17
  Speaker 9: good to be in the position I'm in looking back
• 13:21
  Speaker 9: literally three years ago today I got drafted here, So
• 13:25
  Speaker 9: it's been it's been crazy to come into the team
• 13:34
  Speaker 9: and the organization that I have. You can't make this up,
• 13:37
  Speaker 9: and we got it done kind of quick, I would say,
• 13:40
  Speaker 9: for the most part.
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: So it's been it's been dope.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: We saw you with a wave of emotion once you
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: realize that what this team had accomplished, when you realized
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: that what was going through your head.
• 13:55
  Speaker 9: I realized the cameras were looking at me, so I
• 13:57
  Speaker 9: had to hurry up and stopped crying.
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: But no, this is it's crazy, just for me.
• 14:04
  Speaker 9: In three years, how much has changed and how good
• 14:08
  Speaker 9: we got from the moment I stepped in till now.
• 14:12
  Speaker 9: The fans have always been consistent whether we're winning or losing.
• 14:15
  Speaker 9: You guys are seriously the best fans in the NBA.
• 14:23
  Speaker 9: But no, it's it was crazy, so many emotions, almost
• 14:26
  Speaker 9: like a little bit of relief too, just to finally
• 14:28
  Speaker 9: get the job done.
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: And you know, now we're going to enjoy this moment
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: for show.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Last thing for you. You make the All Star Team
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: for the first time this season, All Defective second Team,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: and now you've added an NBA champion.
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: To that list of accomplishments.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: What has this season been like for you?
• 14:51
  Speaker 17: It's pretty successful, Jane Will.
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: It's hot.
• 15:10
  Speaker 14: It's just me.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Jay, Well, you've been one of the loudest voices on
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: this team. You might not even need the microphone to
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: talk right now. What has it been like to do
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: this with this group? Tell me about the camaraderie, the chemistry.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: What makes this team so special?
• 15:30
  Speaker 10: Uh? Yeah, these these my brothers. I know y'all see
• 15:34
  Speaker 10: us as a team or the City Thunder, but like,
• 15:39
  Speaker 10: we're a family first. And when I look at these
• 15:41
  Speaker 10: line of guys, line of coaches, Sam Mark, uh, everybody
• 15:45
  Speaker 10: up here, We're a family. We're family and y'all see
• 15:48
  Speaker 10: the postgame interviews, y'all, see the taitars, y'all, see the
• 15:51
  Speaker 10: social media, But like that's just scratching the surface of
• 15:53
  Speaker 10: what we are as a team. And like, these are
• 15:56
  Speaker 10: my dogs, These are my dogs.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: That's it. What was this like for you to experience
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: winning an NBA championship and be able to do it
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: in this building, on this home court, in front of
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: these fans.
• 16:14
  Speaker 10: Yeah, it was incredible. We don't get it done without y'all.
• 16:17
  Speaker 10: So so y'all, y'all aren y'all, y'all said the ward journey,
• 16:21
  Speaker 10: But we don't get it done without y'all. The home
• 16:25
  Speaker 10: court advantages. We have the best home court advantage in
• 16:27
  Speaker 10: the league. Being able to be here, have my family
• 16:31
  Speaker 10: here with me, being able to share this experience. I'm
• 16:34
  Speaker 10: sure all the gods feel the same, sharing this experience
• 16:36
  Speaker 10: with their family. Like there's nothing in the world that
• 16:38
  Speaker 10: tops this. So you dream of as a kid, and
• 16:41
  Speaker 10: it's everything I ever dreamed of.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Congratulations very well.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: Isak hearts signed, ladies and gentlemen.
• 16:55
  Speaker 14: Okay, see what's up man, y'all? Good yo, yo, love y'all. Oh,
• 17:01
  Speaker 14: my son didn't want to be here today. He would
• 17:03
  Speaker 14: rather watch elbow at home, so I kind of let
• 17:06
  Speaker 14: him do his own thing.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I think everyone wants to know is he
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: well rested?
• 17:11
  Speaker 6: Now?
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Slept through the entire trophy presentation.
• 17:14
  Speaker 14: She slept it the whole night. Then we came back.
• 17:16
  Speaker 14: He's like, nah, Dad, now you're getting up. So I
• 17:18
  Speaker 14: got I'm all like zero hours asleep. I I appreciate
• 17:22
  Speaker 14: my wife. She helps me all the time. So I
• 17:25
  Speaker 14: got a little resting every now and then. But yeah,
• 17:27
  Speaker 14: he took the show for sure.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Isaiah, how special has this season been for you? Joining
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: this team this year.
• 17:34
  Speaker 14: That's amazing. I mean, I think just being with these
• 17:36
  Speaker 14: group of guys, being a part of this community with
• 17:40
  Speaker 14: something really special. And that's what we do it for.
• 17:42
  Speaker 14: I mean, every every day we go out there, we
• 17:46
  Speaker 14: just don't play for ourselves. We play with what's on
• 17:48
  Speaker 14: front of the jersey and without y'all we want, we
• 17:51
  Speaker 14: want to be here for sure.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: I gotta ask you a similar question.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: I asked Ac what made it so easy to just.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Jump in with this group and fit in so easily.
• 18:05
  Speaker 14: I don't know, they'd be annoying sometimes, but nah, it's
• 18:09
  Speaker 14: just a great group of guys. I mean, I think
• 18:11
  Speaker 14: Sam does a great job just building a great culture.
• 18:14
  Speaker 14: So just coming in it was easy, easy to fit in.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: So yeah, is there congratulations at y'all, And now I
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: want to welcome up your MVP of the league, your
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Western Conference Finals, MVP at your finals, MVP shake you'll
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: just Alexander.
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: Lager Lodder Louder go ahead of parents. Shane would have
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: been sorry, sorry, something doesn't feel right. Everybody, Come on,
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: I like it.
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: I like it every day.
• 19:20
  Speaker 14: Get up, Get up, Come on, come on you sounds
• 19:27
  Speaker 14: sounds well this way, guys, Come on, I think we've
• 19:31
  Speaker 14: been here before.
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: Come on, you know me. We're the towns.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Shay, What have been the emotions going through your head
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: over these last two days?
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: Just thankful, very grateful, very blessed. So many things go
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: into this and some of the things are out of
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: your control.
• 19:50
  Speaker 10: And uh, we've all been very lucky to make it
• 19:54
  Speaker 10: this far in the season, be this healthy, and ultimately
• 19:57
  Speaker 10: be this happy.
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: You don't ever want to take that for granted.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: You've also been.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: With this team from the start six years ago. You
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: joined this organization now NBA Champions. For those who don't know,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: you've just been stacking days every single day. What don't
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: we see the work that's done in the dark that
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: leads to Ilari O'Brian trophy.
• 20:22
  Speaker 14: CAA Yeah, a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Now,
• 20:28
  Speaker 14: a lot of the world doesn't see it, like you said,
• 20:30
  Speaker 14: But everybody in this arena, in the city that has
• 20:34
  Speaker 14: been with me for the last six years, they were
• 20:37
  Speaker 14: chanting MVP when I was averaging nineteen points on a
• 20:40
  Speaker 14: twenty win team.
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: They understand. They know exactly what it takes and what
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: it looks like.
• 20:44
  Speaker 14: Yep.
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: And without them we are not this.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're seen here. You're surrounded by this team. You've
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: always been team first. Tell me about this group and
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: what they.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: Mean to you.
• 21:00
  Speaker 10: So many guys have said it, but this is like family.
• 21:03
  Speaker 10: We do everything together. We need each other out there,
• 21:06
  Speaker 10: we want each other out there. We win because we
• 21:10
  Speaker 10: have each other. We lose because of each other, probably
• 21:12
  Speaker 10: because of me sometimes we have We do everything together.
• 21:17
  Speaker 10: And guess what, guys, we want an NBA championship together.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: Gall We're dead Mike.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Drop moment, shak, congratulations, thank you, what's here one more
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: time for your NBA champion.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: I'm Bahama City thought