{"id":692608,"date":"2026-04-01T21:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/692608\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T21:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:14:08","slug":"nba-award-winner-lou-williams-says-okc-thunder-arent-villains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/692608\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Award-Winner Lou Williams Says OKC Thunder Aren\u2019t \u2018Villains\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6d\">The Oklahoma City Thunder are currently one of the NBA\u2019s most polarizing teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">That typically comes with success, as even the Golden State Warriors&#8217; dynasty had its fair share of disdain from NBA fans and viewers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">After winning a title and reaching 60 wins again the following season, it\u2019s no surprise that OKC has generated some contempt. Even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/thunder\/onsi\/news\/why-there-s-rampant-jealousy-in-the-nba-surrounding-okc-thunder-01kks38paz13\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ESPN\u2019s Brian Windhorst claimed earlier this season<\/a> that there was \u201crampant jealousy\u201d amongst NBA teams towards the Thunder.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort have been lightning rods for many of the complaints lodged against Oklahoma City, as observers and coaches mention Gilegous-Alexander\u2019s free throw attempts and Dort\u2019s physical play style.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">On a recent episode of Run it Back, part of FanDuel TV, three-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams said the Thunder don\u2019t deserve the ire they have drawn.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6s\">\u201cThey (aren\u2019t) villains, they (are) getting hated on,\u201d Williams said. \u201cThis is not a unique circumstance. Anybody that\u2019s at the top of the mountain, and you want to knock them off the top of the mountain, there\u2019s going to be a problem. You\u2019re going to find reasons to be upset.\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;They&#8217;re getting hated on.&#8221; \ud83d\ude24<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TeamLou23?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@TeamLou23<\/a> doesn&#8217;t see a villain story with the Thunder. They&#8217;re simply being hated on because they&#8217;re too good. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/boogiecousins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@boogiecousins<\/a> compares them to when the Warriors started winning \ud83c\udfc6 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JDW7RSUgt5\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/JDW7RSUgt5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RunItBackFDTV\/status\/2039010237815071210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 31, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6y\">\u201cThe only thing they\u2019ve done is kicked everybody a** and have fun doing it,\u201d Williams continued. \u201cThey (aren\u2019t) bothering (anybody), they\u2019re not giving you billboard material.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"71\">Williams did highlight Dort as a potential reason observers may dislike the Thunder, but acknowledged Dort\u2019s recognition of \u201ccrossing the line\u201d and noted that the All-Defense honoree isn\u2019t known to \u201cstare down\u201d or \u201cstand over\u201d his opponents.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"74\">Similar to the Warriors\u2019 dynasty, the Thunder appear to be receiving disdain due to the team\u2019s success, physicality and Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s ability to draw free throws, rather than more substantial controversies that other teams have faced.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"77\">The Warriors faced a similar phenomenon in the midst of their title runs, playing in four consecutive NBA Finals\u2019 series.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7a\">While the Thunder haven\u2019t achieved the same level of success Golden State enjoyed during its run, the team has started to receive similar treatment from observers and other fanbases. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7d\">If OKC continues to win and claims another championship this season, the group will likely only encounter more disdain. No NBA team has repeated as NBA champions since the Warriors, and if the Thunder become the squad to break that streak, OKC will continue to be a polarizing franchise.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7g\">Of course, with success comes growth of the fanbase, as well, which the Thunder certainly appear to be experiencing as the team prepares to move into a new arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Oklahoma City Thunder are currently one of the NBA\u2019s most polarizing teams.\u00a0 That typically comes with success,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[7,6,310,475,179,3966,3965,312],"class_list":{"0":"post-692608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-oklahoma","11":"tag-oklahoma-city","12":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","13":"tag-oklahomacity","14":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","15":"tag-thunder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116331522423683945","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}