Thunder become youngest team to reach NBA Finals since 1977 Trail Blazers

"It takes a lot of hard work to make it this late in the season," Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the first player to earn a trip to the NBA Finals in the same season he won MVP since Stephen Curry in 2015-16, stated. "It's important to be grateful and enjoy the moment. You never know how many times stuff like this is going to happen.

"It's also important to know that we have more work to do. I think this group is the perfect group to tackle that mentally."

The Western Conference champion Thunder roster, which will face either the Indiana Pacers or New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, boasts an average age of 25.6.

The squad is led by league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, aged 26, All-NBA player Jalen Williams at 24 and Chet Holmgren at 23, with 31-year-old Alex Caruso serving as the team's elder statesman.

The last time a team this young made the NBA Finals? Nearly 50 years ago when the 1977 Trail Blazers defeated Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers.

That year, Star Wars released its first movie, Jimmy Carter was sworn in as U.S. President and Walter Payton was named the AP NFL Most Valuable Player, highlighting the rarity of the young Thunder's playoff run. 

Despite its youth and inexperience, Oklahoma City has been among the best teams in the league all season. 

During the regular season, the Thunder notched a league-leading 68 wins and finished as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. They were one of four teams to average 120+ points per game. 

Their dominance has carried over in the playoffs, where the team has gone 12-4 en route to the NBA Finals. 

"These guys are uncommon. They do everything right. They're professional. They're high character," Thunder HC Mark Daigneault said during the team's Western Conference championship presentation. "They're idiots," he added with a smile.

"They're competitive, and most of all, they're team-first. They embody everything it means to be a team."

Now, the youngest team in the NBA has a chance to prove that age is but a number as it aims to secure the franchise's first NBA title since 1979. 

"Obviously happy for the moment, but this isn't our goal," Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 34 points in the series-clinching victory, said. "This isn't the end of the road. There was no special conversation. It was just, let's keep getting better. One more series to go."