How Will The OKC Thunder Fight Complacency in Title Defense?

As Oklahoma City attempts to go back-to-back, there’s nothing that makes their quest seem unreasonable or unbelievable. And that could be the hardest part.

The Thunder returns its entire roster and the depth across the board is among the NBA’s best. The core is young enough to believe everyone can improve, too. Outside of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has turned into the best player in the NBA, every player that’s a part of the Thunder’s young core has areas to improve that could take this team to the next level.

Oklahoma City’s biggest battle could very well be itself. Sure, teams around the league have certainly gotten better and found ways to improve — it’s not like there won’t be competition. But there’s a reason that this Thunder team is the odds on favorite to repeat. The Western Conference is daunting once again, but Oklahoma City’s roster is well positioned to make another deep run.

“I think for us it's really just about seeing and finding ways to get better,” Caruso said.” And I think we do have room to improve, like I said, because teams took us to seven games. It wasn't like we won 16 games in a row and we were crowned champion. So there's definitely room for improvement. It's just about finding those areas and then working on it throughout the season.

“I think for us fighting the complacency, fighting the human nature of winning and not sitting back and resting but being on the front foot and being -- attacking the season and attacking the process of trying to get better, which I think we'll do a phenomenal job with.”

If there’s one person on the roster who understands complacency after winning a championship, it’s Caruso. He won a title with the Lakers, and has been searching for that same success ever since.

Up until June, Caruso was the lone champion voice on the Thunder’s roster. Now, everyone has championship experience, though. He knows that it’s never given, and it’s much harder to get back to that stage once you’ve already been there. Oklahoma City’s biggest challenge will be trying to find internal motivation to get back to the top of the mountain.

“I think through that, just finding little motivations along the way, whether it's through the team, through the collective,” Caruso said. “Like you said, we have a bunch of guys coming back.

“So finding different carrots to tie at the end of the stick to chase, I think is the big thing, too, because obviously the goal is to win a championship whether it's our team returning with a bunch of guys that are experienced or people that revamped their team that have new life and new spirit.”

One thing Oklahoma City doesn’t lack is a roster full of team players wanting to win again for the city. If anything, that’ll be the driving force. This Thunder team has all the talent needed to go back-to-back, but keeping their eyes on the prize and battling complacency will be huge.