On Reno Avenue and beyond, in the streets of Oklahoma City where the Thunder faithful levitate when thinking of what its team can be, expectations are brimming. Inside the Paycom Center for media day on Monday, “expectations” felt like the curse word that the kids skipped past in front of their parents, one they’d heard repeatedly but mindfully circled around.

Awkward smirks, intentional soft landings on the subject. Alex Caruso swallowed them and moved on in veteran fashion. Chet Holmgren, who has gradually come to sound more like head coach Mark Daigneault and general manager Sam Presti, looked internally for expectations. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might’ve been more inviting of them than anyone.

The All-NBA guard is still lit by the fire of having some of his peers lap him in playoff experience, forced to watch several postseasons without a hand in them leading up to last season. He’s been on the other side of being hunted, long circling teams and failing. Still, SGA’s sentiments are now what they were then.

“Honestly, when we sucked as a basketball team, we weren't worried about. ‘The world is going to respect us,’” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We were like, ‘We're not where we want to be.’

“I think that's what kind of turned around for us last year. Not trying to replicate it. We're trying to be better. I think as long as we stay on course and we do what got us here, we'll be just fine. I think we're more worried about that than the expectations or what we're supposed to be or not supposed to be.”

More: Why Sam Presti is refusing to define team, season as OKC Thunder aims to write history

For what it’s worth, the proverbial parents seem indifferent toward expectations. Daigneault seemed fortunate they exist and serve as something to brush off, but wishful that they didn’t prompt ideas of major change for an operation they’ve steered steadily.

Daigneault, as conscious and careful a coach as ever, ashed the idea of external notions before it could burn.

“The goalposts don't move based on anything other than our internal standards, our internal environment,” Daigneault said. "When we started off with this version of the team four years ago, we tried to put things in place that could transcend any team, any season, any external noise or expectation.”

Though this isn’t just any team. Or any season. It’s merely the beginning of all the grandiose expectations and national TV that Oklahoma City has missed since Russell Westbrook’s departure.

And for the Thunder, it’s not so much that dwelling on expectations has become reason for being scolded. There just seem to be better words, better diction in Presti’s thesaurus for this juncture.

For nearly OKC’s entire roster, this season will be the first with such expectations. Western Conference frontrunner, favorites for an NBA Finals bid, picked to win more games than any team knows what to do with — a unique starting point that the team doesn’t want to rush or corrupt.

More: What are OKC Thunder starting lineup possibilities for 2024-25 NBA season?

A process worth letting process.

Presti said as much in dozens of ways a week earlier, but why probe Presti’s mind when Holmgren has the SparkNotes?

“Around here we really emphasize putting expectations on processes, how we show up every day, how we go about our work, what we do and the attention of detail that we do it to,” Holmgren said. “That's what we're really focused on.

“It's worked for me in the past to get better, to become a better player, better person. So, you know, my expectations are how I get better every day, how I show up, how I lead, and I think that will leave us in a good spot. I feel like everybody has a good understanding of that in our organization.”

The motto is the same, even for a team that’s pieced into something beyond what Presti might’ve imagined when he traded for Gilgeous-Alexander. Win games. Blurt out “zero-and-zero” whenever someone steps into a room. Redefine — or toss out — the words that mean more on the street than they do in the building.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder enter 2024-25 NBA season with high expectations