Jalen Williams explains the origins of the OKC Thunder’s postgame interviews

As Oklahoma City climbed the rankings of NBA teams, the team’s fun personalities began to shine through. This is no surprise as the Thunder are one of the youngest teams in the league. Of course, when it comes to winning, it’s all business, but these guys also have fun.

One way Oklahoma City expressed itself as a team was through postgame interviews. It started out casually, but now it’s really caught on. The entire team jumps into the postgame interview – no one interviews alone – and occasionally someone barks at the end. Often it is the veterans on the team who force a teammate to bark.

When Chet Holmgren Although he made his debut for the Thunder in Summer League, he refused to do a postgame interview himself. He mentioned that his stats were always due to the team’s full performance and that this mentality trickled down to the rest of the team.

“I think it was my second year at Summer League in Utah,” Chet barked, and it was kind of random, like it wasn’t intentional.” Jalen Williamswho was one of the leaders after the game said. “I think Twitter got a hold of it somehow and then – our team is so weird, I can’t even remember what happened after that. After that we started barking.

“Chet kind of started it by accident. I think maybe one of the interviewers was talking about having a dog mentality or something and he barked. From there it just took off. I think J-Will and I started it and made fun of him, and once Oklahoma gets wind of something like that, they usually stick with it.”

It may not be something that lasts forever, but it helps make this young team unique. It allows them to be free to be themselves. Even though some people might not like it – Draymond Green – it’s just another aspect of the Thunder’s close bond and chemistry. And that’s part of what makes them great.

“I don’t know, I enjoy it,” he said of how long the shenanigans will last after the game. “I think everyone else does too. We don’t do it every time now, but it’s kind of our identity.”

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