The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the youngest teams to ever win an NBA championship with an average age of 25.33 years old across the roster. (Only the 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers were younger, with an average age of 25.31 years.)
That youth and lack of life experience became apparent during the Thunder’s locker room celebration following their 103-91 win in Game 7 on Sunday night. Several observers noted that the revelry was rather short.
But to be fair, perhaps most of the players didn’t have experience in celebrating with champagne and popping a cork on a bottle. Cameras were there to record that uncertainty for fans to see on social media.
Several players asked veteran Alex Caruso, who celebrated a championship victory with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, how to properly shake up a bottle and get the cork to pop off.
“AC, how we do this?” one Thunder player was overheard saying. “AC, teach me though!” said another. With their teammate’s guidance, the champagne finally started spraying in the champions’ locker room.
During postgame press availability, center Isaiah Hartenstein admitted that most of the players had no experience with champagne bottles when asked why the locker room celebration seemed so short and with several unopened bottles of bubbly.
“First of all, none of us knew how to do it,” Hartenstein said. “We were just asking AC how to do it… it was kinda not really in sync because no one knew how to do it.”
Responding to a follow-up question, Hartenstein explained that his previous championship experience came while he played in Lithuania and those players celebrated with tequila — “hard liquor, straight.”
Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams appeared on NBC News’ “Morning News Now” on Monday morning and hosts Joe Fryer and Savannah Sellers asked about the champagne celebration. Williams admitted that he had never tasted champagne before Sunday night and did not like it.
“I had never drank up until last night, so the champagne was new,” Williams said. “I didn’t know what I was doing. It was cool, though. It tastes gross.”
“Not easy to do the champagne showers,” Holmgren added. “We weren’t used to, you know, doing that celebration.”
Holmgren provided another amusing example of inexperience with adult beverages during his postgame press conference, mispronouncing “Michelob” when touting Michelob Ultra providing goggles to shield their eyes from stinging champagne during locker room festivities.
He called the beer brand “mish-a-lobe” rather than “mick-a-lobe.” Oops. Innocent mistake, and an endearing one.
Hey, it happens to plenty of people. Though it wasn’t alcohol-related, remember how Bryce Harper pronounced “meme” nearly 10 years ago during an interview with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt?
With the Thunder being such a young team, the expectation is that the 2025 NBA championship will not be the last title that this group wins. Oklahoma City has the look of a burgeoning dynasty. As with any playoff situation, they gained valuable experience that can be utilized in future postseasons. We could see plenty of champagne-popping pros next time around.
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