After taking home the Larry O'Brien Trophy two seasons ago, the OKC Thunder came into the 2025-26 campaign with one goal in mind: become the first repeat champion since the 2018 Warriors. Unfortunately, they were unable to accomplish such a task, as they were bested by the emerging San Antonio Spurs in an epic seven-game Western Conference Finals showdown. You can put in all the work and still come up short. At the end of the day, you have to be okay with putting in the work with no guaranteed outcome," Holmgren said. Hopefully all the advertised hard work this summer will pay off big in 2026-27.