Gordon Hayward backs Thunder to make a deep playoff push next season

The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the best young teams in the NBA. Led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, the Thunder are expected to compete for the top seed in the Western Conference next season while also being among the favorites to make the NBA Finals.

During a recent interview with Mike Golic and Mike Golic Jr. on the "GoJo and Golic" show, Gordon Hayward shared his thoughts on the Thunder's chances of success. Hayward spent the second half of the 2023-2024 season with the Thunder before announcing his retirement earlier this summer.

"I don’t think they’re necessarily missing anything," Hayward said. "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.”