Wild Oklahoma City Thunder stat proves age won’t stop NBA championship run

The Oklahoma City Thunder defied age expectations again, securing a sweep of the New Orleans Pelicans in a Western Conference first-round playoff series with a 97-89 Game 4 win. The Thunder were the youngest team in NBA history to earn a No. 1 seed and are now the youngest to win a playoff series.

THE OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER ADVANCE TO THE SECOND ROUND OF THE WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS

FIRST PLAYOFF SWEEP SINCE 2012

YOUNGEST ONE SEED IN NBA HISTORY CONTINUES TO SHOCK THE WORLD pic.twitter.com/SMO7XAd0gX

— Topic: Thunder Podcast (@OKCTopicThunder) April 30, 2024

OKC moves on to face the winner of the Dallas Mavericks-Los Angeles Clippers series.

The words “young” “youth” “age” “inexperience” and all their synonyms will follow the Thunder around until they bow out of the playoffs (if they do). But among a load of wild stats, one in particular shows how ready this team is to potentially win the whole thing.

Oklahoma City Thunder continue to prove age doesn’t matter

Shai-Gilgeous Alexander is a finalist to win the 2024 NBA MVP Award at age 25. Chet Holmgren, 21, is a Rookie of the Year finalist. Even coach Mark Daigneault, this season’s NBA Coach of the Year, is the youngest to win the award since Doc Rivers did it at the turn of the century.

If that wasn’t enough for you, per ESPN stats and information, 99.5 percent of OKC’s points in this series came from players age 25 or younger. The only player older than 25 to score against the Pelicans was Kenrich Williams, who scored two points in Game 1.

That breaks the record of 96.4 percent set by the Chicago Stags in 1948.

Twenty-three-year-old Jalen Williams, who had 24 points and eight assists in Game 4, said the age topic is only brought up outside the building, per ESPN:

It’s just something that everybody needs to talk about, and we kind of just leave it out there in the day. It’s just basketball, and we’re coming to compete regardless of how old we are.

The top-seeded Thunder will have time to rest before their West semifinals series as the Maverick and Clippers are knotted 2-2.

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