Former Jayhawk Nick Collison Wins NBA Championship with Oklahoma City Thunder

Former Kansas basketball star Nick Collison is officially an NBA champion after the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers in a back-and-forth, seven-game series.

Collison, who previously played for the Thunder for 10 years, currently works in the front office for the organization as a special assistant to Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti – a role Collison has held since August 2021.

In his current role, Collison is responsible for short-term and long-term initiatives and projects across many facets of Thunder basketball operations. Prior to joining as a special assistant, he served as the team’s basketball operations representative for two seasons.

To this day, Collison remains the first and only player to have his jersey retired by the Thunder (though they do recognize the retired jerseys from the former Seattle Supersonics franchise they originated from).

Collison played his entire career for the Thunder/Supersonics (15 years) after originally being drafted by Seattle with the 12th overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. He and Russell Westbrook are the only two players to spend the entire first decade of the Thunder era with the team.

Collison appeared in 910 regular season games for the Thunder over the course of his long-tenured career, averaging 5.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.0 assist per game.

When he retired in May 2018, Collison finished fourth in assists (638) and blocks (258), fifth in rebounds (2,561), and sixth in steals (296) and points (2,846).

Prior to his time in the NBA, Collison became of the most decorated Kansas basketball players of all time and had one of the finest senior seasons in program history.

During his senior year in 2002-03, he was named the Big 12 Player of the Year and a First Team All-American who helped lead the Jayhawks to their second consecutive Final Four appearance. The team finished national runner-up that year after losing in heartbreaking fashion to Syracuse in the national championship.

When Collison left Kansas, he was the Big 12’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder. In KU history, he currently ranks second all-time in scoring (2,097 points), second all-time in blocked shots (243), and third all-time in rebounding (1,143).

In what normally takes years for most of the all-time KU greats, his No. 4 jersey was retired inside Allen Fieldhouse on Nov. 25, 2003 – just six months after graduating.

Collison is one of the most beloved and successful players in both Thunder and Kansas basketball history who always carried himself well on and off the court. He was long past due for a championship ring, and now he finally has one.