Mike Tirico pumps brakes on OKC Thunder dynasty talk: ‘We gotta slow this stuff down’

The Oklahoma City Thunder are on the cusp of their second straight NBA Finals appearance, with a young core all locked in for years to come.

But even after seeing the team dominate up close throughout the postseason, NBC’s Mike Tirico isn’t ready to call the team a dynasty.

In an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show on Thursday, the play-by-play announcer pumped the brakes on any dynasty talk for the Thunder, explaining that in the broader history of sports, very few teams come close to the dynastic runs that were more prevalent before free agency and player movement came into play.

“No. Not yet, no,” Tirico said when asked how close the Thunder were to becoming a dynasty. “We fast-forward this stuff so much. Let’s go back, like the whole dynasty conversation is almost impossible to hold up to the dynasties that we grew up with, Lakers, Celtics, Steelers, etc., Yankees. Because players move.”

In fairness to Patrick, he did not suggest OKC is already a dynasty. The conversation is perfect for the downtime leading up to the NBA Finals, but few commentators or fans seem to believe the team is on the cusp of a dynasty yet.

However, Tirico believes the league’s new villain has the tools at its disposal to get there one day many years from now.

“We gotta slow down on this stuff. They’ve won one title, they’re trying to get to the Finals for a second time. If they win that, that’s an all-time good run,” Tirico said, but not a great run. “They’re a really, really good team. They have the potential, because of what Sam Presti has done to build this organization and the capital that they have in the draft and the moves they can make, which are different than everyone else.”

Tirico offered the Thunder’s trade for guard Jared McCain as an example of the type of move that will prolong their run of dominance. The team traded one first-round pick and a few second-round picks for McCain in February, only to see him develop into a player capable of starting in the conference finals and scoring 20-plus points multiple times in the series.

Even after the Kansas City Chiefs’ recent run, with five Super Bowl appearances and three championships across six seasons, fans and analysts were split on whether they were a dynasty. So it will take far more than two championships in two seasons for the Thunder to be raised into such hallowed territory.