The Thunder was amid a rough stretch.

It was the 2020-21 season, Year 1 of Oklahoma City’s rebuild, Year 1 of Mark Daigneault’s head coaching tenure. The team was having a pre-game walkthrough in an empty Paycom Center when Daigneault had his players picture playoff T-shirts blanketing the 18,000 seats.

“We're going through a tough time now,” Daigneault told his team, “but the habits, the standards — whatever I was talking about back then — is eventually going to put T-shirts in the seats if we just stay on it and stay with it.”

The wounds of Game 6 were still fresh Sunday morning when Daigneault, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the rest of the Thunder cycled through the team practice facility for exit interviews, but their disappointment of losing to Dallas was juxtaposed by appreciation of the season that was. The years that led up to this and the ones to come.

“They impressed the hell out of me,” Daigneault said of his squad. “I was in awe of our team many times this season, both in how we handled our setbacks and our adversities, but also how we handled success. Handling success when you’re a young team is very difficult. That can break you down as much as failure can, especially in the current environment of the NBA.”

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Nothing in this ever-changing environment can be taken for granted, but the Thunder is set up for sustained postseason success. Long playoff runs in front of frenzied crowds in monochrome shirts.

“A lot of people talked about our experience in a negative fashion this year … but part of that is it gives you an incredible runway moving forward,” Daigneault said.

“I can’t wait to see what’s coming next,” said Lu Dort, one of the Thunder’s longest-tenured players.

This version of the Thunder — the 57-win, No. 1 seed, Western Conference semifinalist Thunder — is only going to evolve and improve with age and experience. OKC is a contender now, but the actualized version is still years away.

Barring something unforeseen, this is only the beginning.

Daigneault called his team, the youngest to ever clench the No. 1 seed, “uncommon.”

He said he saw it years ago, when the Thunder was mired in back-to-back 20-win seasons.

“The snowball was rolling at that time slowly, and it didn’t feel like it was picking up a ton of steam,” Daigneault said. “But over time it’s just rolled faster and faster and faster, and it’s been an incremental thing that has now put T-shirts in the seats.”

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Mike Muscala, who bounced around the last two seasons before circling back to Oklahoma City, didn’t remember the specific walkthrough Daigneault alluded to, “but I do remember those notions,” Muscala said.

“Mark and I were talking, Game 1 of the first round at home, just the energy in the arena and to experience that after some of the recent years was just amazing,” Muscala said. “It’s been quite the journey. I’m so proud of (Daigneault). He’s done such a great job. Sam (Presti), all the young players that contributed to it.”

None more than Gilgeous-Alexander, who’s been here since the start.

He was the bridge from one Thunder era to the next. From the 2020 bubble playoffs to the next season, when the Thunder could only imagine what its next postseason appearance would look, feel and sound like.

Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder got there.

They’ve positioned themselves to get back.

“I feel like we can do anything we want to do,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

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Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder is contender now, but its best version remains years away