Former NBA Champion Hints at Tension in Thunder Locker Room During 3-1 Collapse

Matt Levine | Nov 14, 2024

Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

One of the biggest what-ifs over the last decade-plus in the NBA comes from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Oklahoma City had one of the more consistent teams in the league for a long stretch but never was able to get the job done in winning a title.

They reached the NBA Finals in 2012 with a young Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden. But they fell in five games to the LeBron James-led Miami Heat.

Oklahoma City never got back to the NBA Finals but did come very close in the 2016 season. They led the Golden State Warriors three games to one in the Western Conference Finals before disaster struck.

The Thunder blew the series and it ended up being the final time that Durant played with Oklahoma City, He bolted to the Warriors after the season was over, ending the Thunder's run in the Western Conference.

Many wonder how the Thunder blew the series to the Warriors considering that they dominated them through the first four games. But former Thunder guard Dion Waiters has opened up about it, saying that there was some tension in the locker room.

“You got superstars over there and it was a lot going on, bruh. From the outside looking in you’re thinking it’s one way until you get there and it’s NOT what it really seems to be — Like, guys got along but when you watch it from afar, it looks like guys are closer from afar and then when you get there, it’s like… whoa. But I still think we should’ve went to the Finals when we were up 3-1 that year [in 2016]. I hate talking about it. But OKC? It was a lot going on, bro. It was a lot of different and I don’t want to say hidden agendas, it was just a lot of tension that’s all.” 

The former No. 4 overall pick saw firsthand what happened in the locker room and how the series unfolded for the Thunder. It was clear that personalities weren't meshing which likely led to Durant leaving in the summer.

Waiters hasn't played in the NBA since the 2020 Bubble in Florida but he has remained active in talking about the league. His career is most likely over considering that no team has given him a chance to return in years.

He ended up winning a title with the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2020 season but still looks back on the 2016 Thunder as a what-could-have-been moment.

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