Three years ago, Sam Presti from Oklahoma City made a promise. Maybe people did not notice it for two reasons. First, the Thunder team was very bad then. Second, he used difficult words.

After the 2021-22 season, Presti said, "Labor omnia vincit." This is a saying from Oklahoma. It means "hard work wins everything," or it could mean "slow work wins everything."

This applies to the Thunder, no matter the situation. They put in a lot of effort, but they were also careful and took their time.

They won against all their enemies.

Three years ago, the Thunder team won only 24 games. This season, they won 84 games and became NBA champions after a hard final series against the Indiana Pacers. This is not good for other NBA teams. Their best player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is still on their team. He and the other main players will play next season. They also have a new good player, Nikola Topic, who was hurt this year. The Thunder team will also get two more good players from this year's draft.

They are young. The players who start the games are about 23 to 27 years old. They are brave and could be playing well for a long time.

We can get better, said Gilgeous-Alexander, who won the MVP award and the NBA championship. That's good. Many of us can still improve. Most of us on the team are not at our best yet. We can grow as players and as a team. I'm happy about the future of this team. This is a good start.

It's a good time for them to be performing so well.

Many teams have questions for next season, but not Oklahoma City. Jayson Tatum, Damian Lillard, and Tyrese Haliburton all have leg injuries and will probably miss most of next season. LeBron James will play his 23rd season. Stephen Curry will be 38 next season. Kevin Durant will play his 18th season for Houston soon. Philadelphia hopes Joel Embiid will be healthy again. New York will get a new coach.

Oklahoma City appears to have everything organized and ready.

"Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said that this team has many good players."

Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren like playing together and helping each other. They do not care who gets the praise. Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein fit well into the jobs the Thunder team gave them. Luguentz Dort is a very good defender, and he knows that most people do not see how good he is at defending.

The players are not the only ones who don't seem to care about showing off. The leaders don't care either.

Caruso said, "You can't be sure of anything in this league. Teams change every year because of trades or injuries, things you can't control. Winning the championship is amazing. You can't just think you will win every year. We will be ready to work hard and try again next year."

Sam Presti planned everything, but he does not often speak in public. Clay Bennett, the owner, also does not speak much. And coach Mark Daigneault is very calm, even when there are problems. He is a good leader for the Thunder team.

Daigneault said, "You might not finish like we did. I really wanted them to win. I was very happy that we could do it and they could feel this, because they earned it. They work hard, they are good at their jobs, they like to compete, and they always think about the team first. I really wanted them to have this.

The Thunder's journey is not over; it's just starting. They have many draft picks and money to get new players if they want. And now they need to try and win the championship again.

If you work hard, you can achieve anything. There is still more work that needs to be done.

Presti said in 2022 that they had a lot of hard work to do. He said they needed to work hard to finish it. He explained that this was important for the place, its past, and the basketball team.