Thunder deserve credit for abnormal construction of NBA contender

Following a hard-fought battle with the Denver Nuggets, the Oklahoma City Thunder find themselves in the conference finals for the first time since 2016. Now one step closer to a championship, the organization deserves praise for going against the grain to build a contender.

When looking at most of the title teams in the modern era, they follow a similar "superteam" model. That being a collection of stars who were acquired through trades or free agency, centered around one homegrown talent. However, that isn't the case with the Thunder.

OKC is led by an MVP-level player in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but beyond that, the focus is depth. Guys like Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren continue to develop into All-Star-level talents, but are still establishing themselves.

GM Sam Presti has made outside moves to up the chances of contending, but it was done in the margins. The Thunder sought out quality role players like Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein, who have drastically moved the needle for OKC.

Ahead of their conference finals showdown with the Minnesota Timberwolves, former WNBA All-Star Chiney Ogwumike gave her thoughts on the Thunder on Monday's episode of ESPN's "Get Up." 

She feels they should be the favorites to win the title because they have so many different players capable of making winning plays for them. 

"When you think about the NBA, you think that you need one, two, three stars in order to win," Ogwumike said. "They're showing you it can be different guys other than the MVP."