Thunder players barking, explained: How OKC's 'dawg in me' became a postgame tradition for NBA Playoffs

Gilbert McGregor

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Thunder players barking, explained: How OKC's 'dawg in me' became a postgame tradition for NBA Playoffs image

Moments after the Thunder earned their first playoff win in nearly four years, MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was flanked by six teammates while he completed his postgame interview with TNT Sports' Stephanie Ready.

"I know they're all gathered around for one thing," Ready told Gilgeous-Alexander. "Have at it." Her words prompted the six surrounding players to bark like dogs before exiting the court.

While Oklahoma City is far from the first team to turn on-court postgame interviews into a group event, the Thunder made a tradition out of the barking during their race to the Western Conference's No. 1 seed. Here is how that tradition came to be.

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Thunder players barking, explained

The barking tradition seems to date back to late January, as Bally Sports Oklahoma's Nick Gallo explained to Sellout Crowd.

Gallo, who conducts walk-off interviews for the Thunder's local broadcast, recalled an interview in Minnesota where Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Jaylin Williams crashed Gilgeous-Alexander's postgame interview and served as hype men without barking. 

A few nights later, Thunder wing Aaron Wiggins' walk-off interview was crashed by the same trio. This time, they began barking midway through.

Thus, a tradition was born.

As evidenced by the origin story, Jalen "J-Dub" Williams and Jaylin "Jay Will" Williams are credited as the originators. When asked how the barking came to be, Jaylin Williams said: "I honestly don’t know. I know me and [Jalen Williams], we just do a lot of random stuff, and I think one day, it was just barking.”

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The tradition took a life of its own, as barking during a postgame interview became a rite of passage for team members.

Among notable walk-off interviews were the first barks from Gordon Hayward, who the team acquired at the trade deadline, and from midseason acquisition Bismack Biyombo, who needed some encouragement from Holmgren to get in on the fun.

After Oklahoma City's regular-season finale, the team got a few barks out of Gallo.

Lu Dort, who also frequently crashes these postgame interviews, explained: "We’re going out there to compete and be tough, and [the barking is] just a reminder to go out there and be strong.”

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The Thunder take that mentality with them everywhere they go. And the fans have noticed. In Game 1 of OKC's first-round series against New Orleans, Jalen Williams was tied up holding the ball with bruising Pelicans big man Jonas Valanciunas.

As Valanciunas' competitive spirit showed with a primal yell, Williams walked away and began barking, which was met by barks from the crowd ad Oklahoma City's Paycom Center.

"Jonas [Valanciunas] yelled in my face, and he picked me off the floor… I just barked, I don't know," Williams said. "I just barked, I don't know … I thought that was pretty cool, I got to bark with the fans, they barked back."

As long as the Thunder keep winning, you can count on their players to keep barking.

Gilbert McGregor

Gilbert McGregor Photo

Gilbert McGregor first joined The Sporting News in 2018 as a content producer for Global editions of NBA.com. Before covering the game, McGregor played basketball collegiately at Wake Forest, graduating with a Communication degree in 2016. McGregor began covering the NBA during the 2017-18 season and has been on hand for a number of league events.