Shai Gilgeous-Alexander describes Thunder’s 2025-26 season with one word originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The 2025-26 NBA season was an eventful one for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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Star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won his second consecutive NBA MVP award and the Thunder made it all the way to the Western Conference finals before being bested by the San Antonio Spurs in seven games.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander says 2025-26 season was a ‘failure’ for Thunder
Ultimately though, the Thunder fell short of their goal of winning a championship, so Gilgeous-Alexander needed just one word to describe the season: Failure.
“It was a failure. I failed at my goal,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I didn’t achieve what I wanted to achieve.”
But, for Gilgeous-Alexander, the best improvements are often born from failure, and he doesn’t expect things to be any different this time around.
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“But through those experiences, I learn the most about myself and make the greatest amount of increases in my career when I fail at my goal and don’t get what I want, and I look at this no different,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
“I didn’t get where I wanted to go this season. There’s a reason for that. I have to look at that reason and try to make sure it never happens again.”
This is clearly the right approach for a player to have, and it’s the reason that Gilgeous-Alexander has blossomed into one of the brightest stars in the league. Expect him to head into the ’26-27 season with a chip on his shoulder.
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