Gordon Hayward feels confident about what the Oklahoma City Thunder’s core can do going forward led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
(via GoJo and Golic):
Mike Golic Jr: “You finished up in Oklahoma City, which is a team that seems to be entering that window right now. So from what you’ve seen of that core up close and personal, do you think they’re capable of doing what Boston’s done around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?”
Hayward: “Absolutely. They have the pieces and the talent to for sure do it. It’s gonna be I think on them to figure out exactly. You have to mesh as a team, and you can’t be trying to compete with each other and not compete together. We did that a lot in Boston where we’re almost competing against each other to try to shine the brightest and individually succeed. They certainly have the talent, SGA is a top five player in the league, but Chet [Holmgren] and Jalen [Williams] and their core and just their culture too, they’re about winning. So as long as they stay about winning, I think they’re gonna be able to make a big run.”
Mike Golic Jr: “Is there anything you think they’re missing from that?”
Hayward: “No, I don’t think they’re necessarily missing anything. I think some experience, which you can only get by doing it, to be honest with you. You just gotta go through, and I think going through it last year was big for them. And so, they’ll be able to keep getting better and better I think. And then, the other thing is you can’t catch the injury bug. You gotta stay healthy, too, that’s the other thing. So hopefully Chet can stay healthy and SGA and Jalen and Lu Dort and all those guys can be healthy.”
