Oklahoma City Thunder Continue to Win, Do Funny Stuff to Sideline Reporter Nick Gallo

The real star of the show is the custom shirt.
Oklahoma City Thunder players made sure Nick Gallo got a shirt.
Oklahoma City Thunder players made sure Nick Gallo got a shirt. / Fan Duel Sports
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The Oklahoma City Thunder are enjoying a historic season and on Wednesday night notched their 66th victory of the season. Their great play and ascension into a powerful brand for national coverage has allowed everyone to discover the wonderful relationship the team has with sideline reporter Nick Gallo. His postgame interviews with the victorious squad have become appointment viewing as everyone involved tends to explore the space and genuinely enjoy each other's company.

The latest entry into Gallo cannon came after the Thunder dusted off the Phoenix Suns. While interviewing the winning side, Jalen Williams happened to notice a group of fans in the stands wearing shirts with Gallo's face on them like the kind one might wear to show allegiance to the hottest new boy band. And once that happened it was a Chekhov's Shirt situation and only a matter of time until they made sure the shirts ended up on Gallo's body.

Just tremendous stuff.

This is one of, but certainly not the only, reason it's so annoying to hear all of the pundits lament the fact that the Thunder might create some small-market magic in the NBA playoffs. It's rare to see this much authentic joy in the professional sport ranks and it's really hard to imagine anyone watching the Gallo bits and not having their cold hearts warmed a bit.

Oklahoma City has two regular season games remaining before attempting to defend homecourt en route to the Finals.


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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.