Young Oklahoma City Thunder Celebrate First NBA Championship

The Oklahoma City Thunder, one of the league’s youngest teams with an average age of 25.33 years, recently secured their first NBA title with a 103-91 victory in Game 7. Their youthful roster is comparable in age only to the Portland Trail Blazers of the 1976-77 season, which had an average age of 25.31.

However, their celebration post-victory revealed their lack of experience with champagne, with many players unsure how to properly pop the bottles. Cameras captured their uncertainty, and some players sought advice from veteran Alex Caruso, who won the 2020 championship with the Los Angeles Lakers, on how to execute the typical champagne celebration.

During interviews, center Isaiah Hartenstein explained the celebration was brief because most players had never celebrated with champagne bottles before. “None of us knew how to do it,” he admitted. Hartenstein, who had previously celebrated a championship in Lithuania with tequila, noted the team’s unfamiliarity with the bubbly.

On the “Morning Show Now,” players Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren shared their inexperience. Williams revealed he had never tasted champagne before and found it unpleasant, while Holmgren joked about the difficulty of executing the traditional champagne shower. Holmgren also amusingly mispronounced “Michelob” as “mish-a-lobe” during his postgame remarks, adding a light-hearted note to the celebration.

As a young team with this first title, the Thunder are expected to remain competitive, with many predicting future championships. The experience gained from their recent playoff run will likely serve as a foundation for more celebratory moments in the seasons to come.