Winning the Emirates Cup matters
The Oklahoma City Thunder should put their best foot forward and try to bring the cup home
Since the Emirates Cup was introduced in the 2023-24 season, it has been maligned for it’s confusing format and relative lack of importance. I am a lifelong soccer fan and feel differently about the Cup to what I suppose many people feel. The Emirates Cup is a trophy and trophies are there to be won. You judge a season by the silverware that the team has won.
At the end of the day, there are only two trophies that an NBA team can win and winning one of those trophies means something. Fans of other teams may mock the trophy and dismiss it as being tinpot but winning is so important in developing camaraderie and pushing a team to the next level.
If you look at recent examples from the world of soccer, you can see this trend. Atalanta are a provincial club based in Bergamo, roughly 45 minutes from Milan who over performed for years with Gian Piero Gasperini at the helm. Gasperini installed a winning style of play, regularly qualified for Europe and developed a nucleus of talented players but the last piece of the puzzle evaded them.
In Dublin in May 2024, Atalanta finally realised their dreams and brought home their first piece of silverware since the Coppa Italia in 1963. A 3-0 win in the final against an excellent Bayer Leverkusen side gave Gasperini’s men that their hard work over a decade warranted.
They have used the successes in the spring as a springboard domestically. The men from Bergamo are top of the league in Serie A and are favourites to win the Scudetto. Visibly, their level of play has gone up a level. Winning a trophy has imbued such a confidence in the squad that there is real belief that they can win it all.
The Thunder winning the Emirates Cup would provide them with a similar sort of platform. In the entire history of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team have won six division titles and one conference title in 2012. Those trophies that were won came with the anticipation of an NBA championship and a sense of resignation when the Thunder came up short.
The Emirates Cup has no such hang ups. Win that trophy and the Thunder’s players will have a beautiful opportunity to commune with the fans in the first possible home game, scheduled to be the Washington Wizards on December 23.
The Paycom Center is a loud, rambunctious arena, imagine what it would be like as the Thunder lift the Emirates Cup in front of a passionate, raucous audience. Silverware is the currency of a successful team and giving fans a reason to celebrate is never a bad thing.
For the players, these Cup games also have great value. This current group is still relatively inexperienced in high-stakes, high-pressure games. The only player on the roster who has a ring is Alex Caruso. The Cup semifinals and final will be highly valuable in developing the roster’s ability to cope with adversity.
Basketball-wise, I think winning the Cup is an opportunity to lay down a marker and dent the confidence of their Conference rivals. Oklahoma City’s win against the Mavericks was an assured performance in which the Thunder controlled the vast majority of the game.
It was a statement victory given that the Dallas Mavericks had eliminated the Thunder in the Conference semifinals in the 2023-24 season. In that series, the Mavericks’ physicality was too much to handle for OKC’s front-court and the Thunder’s bench unit was thoroughly outplayed.
It was a different story in the quarter final. Oklahoma City won the possession battle and ruthlessly exploited Dallas’ carelessness with the basketball. It is too early to say the hoodoo has been broken, PJ Washington did not feature in the game on December 10 but the Mavericks’ momentum in this rivalry has been slowed.
In the semifinal, the Thunder have another bitter rival in front of them in the form of the Houston Rockets. Over the last twelve years, the Rockets have been the Thunder’s principal foe. The Warriors, Spurs, Blazers and T-Wolves have all occupied the Thunder but Houston has been the one consistent thorn in the side.
The two clubs are indelibly linked by their shared history. The Harden trade, the 2017 MVP race, the Westbrook-Paul trade, the Sengun trade and the Thunder’s selection of Chet Holmgren in the 2022 NBA Draft are all moments where Thunder fans have crowed and Rockets fans have despaired and vice versa.
There’s an enmity between the fanbases and the rivalry has reignited with Ime Udoka taking the Houston Rockets back into playoff contention. Houston beat the Thunder on December 1 in a close game and it is time for the Thunder to return the favour. Giving the Rockets a pasting would be lovely for the fans and would put more distance between the two best teams in the Western Conference.
The Cup might be perceived as Mickey Mouse but it is a trophy that would greatly benefit OKC if they were able to win it. It is a golden opportunity to bring home something that the fans can celebrate and to quieten their rivals’ championship aspirations.