Hope Wins: Thunder’s Championship Parade meets the Oklahoma City National Memorial

The Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum and the Oklahoma City Thunder have always had strong ties, and now that bond is even closer.

As thousands of people lined the streets of downtown to celebrate the NBA championship parade, Thunder crews were hard at work capturing every moment.

“Twenty probably videographers, drone operators, still photographers, and I kind of couldn’t wait to see what everyone had gathered, because it was such an amazing day,” said Dan Mahoney, Thunder Vice President of broadcasting and corporate communications.

As the photos and videos started coming in from the crews.

“I opened the folder, the first photo that I looked at was that one,” said Mahoney.

That photo was Thunder photographer Jimmy Do’s photo of one of the team buses passing the memorial.

“I thought it was a cool shot,” said Thunder photographer Jimmy Do.

However, when he went to upload it, he realized what he had really captured.

“I thought, wow, that’s a shot that’s better than I thought, you know Shai’s arms are out,” said Do. 

“I got so excited, I sent it to Kari, I sent it to our executive team, I think I sent it to my sister in Arizona, I sent it everywhere, and suddenly I realized, you know maybe the Thunder should put that out first,” said Mahoney.

The photo will now be displayed at the memorial, capturing the spirit of resilience and pride of the city.

“From the biggest tragedies meeting one of the biggest triumphs. It’s really a great message of resilience of the city,” said Do.

The photo appropriately titled “Hope Wins” will be on sale at the memorial gift shop as well as online at https://memorialmuseum.myshopify.com/