OKLAHOMA CITY -- For the Oklahoma City Thunder, the biggest obstacle to another NBA Championship - much less a Finals appearance - resides in San Antonio.
But following a season-ending loss to the Spurs in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said the team's focus entering this coming season isn't solely on whether they can beat the Spurs.
"Our off-season approach, our process is the exact same every single year regardless of if we get eliminated, if we win," Daigneault said Monday during the team's media day. "We take the lessons from the regular season. We really, really dive into the playoff series, but not just the ones that we lose. We audit it. We take the lessons we can. We figure out what we need to add. We figure out what we need to cut.
"The ones where you lose the series are informative, but we don't play San Antonio 82 times, and the most you can play them in a playoff series or in a playoff run, if you're fortunate enough to get to the playoffs, once.
"So we need to make sure that what we are doing is broad enough that it gives us a chance to be competitive across opponents, including ones that we are not aware that are going to be really good teams. That happens every single year."
The Spurs won the regular-season series four games to win against the Thunder last season before the teams faced off in a riveting Western Conference Finals. Thunder center Chet Holmgren struggled against Spurs star center Victor Wembanyama, scoring just eight points in game 1 and just four points on 1-of-2 shooting in the pivotal Game 7.
On Monday, Holmgren reflected on his approach to the offseason as it compared to previous years.
"Yeah, I think I learned a lot from the year that we won it, and I honestly think that my approach was very similar," Holmgren said. "Obviously the emotions of it were different, but I don't think my process changed at all. After we won it, obviously it's good emotions.
"You're at the highest of highs, but at some point -- which was still relatively pretty quick. You have to flush those emotions and look at the reality of what the tape is and then figure out how you can kind of improve on those things. I'd say that was no different after last season. Obviously different emotions, but you still have to get to a baseline where you can look at things objectively and then figure out how to try to improve from there."
The Thunder will return a healthy Jalen Williams, their All-Star guard who played just 33 games last season due to injuries, including a hamstring strain that severely limited him against the Spurs in the playoffs.
"I don't really have too much of like regrets or look back on last year and worry about it," Williams, who was named to the All-NBA Third Team for the 2024-25 NBA season. "It's more how can I avoid doing that last year -- how do I get my body to a point where it won't happen and play and be available for this year."
When asked if he was excited to remind people how good he is, Williams added, "I guess, yeah. Yeah, I would definitely say that, but it's also more just I'm more excited to remind myself that I play basketball, if that makes sense. I've never sat out that long. So I'm more just excited to go hoop again. I know what I am, so I'm not too concerned about trying to prove to somebody -- we've all seen it. I'm just excited to prove that I can play healthy and do that whole thing and move on. I'm just excited to get going, bro."