Will the Pacers win their first NBA Title or will the Thunder win their first title since moving to Oklahoma City?
Welcome to the 2024-25 NBA Finals Discussion thread.
Below, I will detail some the history of the franchises. I will also note any matchups between the Thunder/Sonics and Pacers in the regular reason in the past and recent history.
Then I will go over the current day teams and anything that could tip the scales in one teams favor. With that said, let’s go into the history of the franchises.
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder came into the league as the Seattle SuperSonics in 1967 and remained in Seattle until 2008. In that span, they made the NBA Finals four times and won one Championship in 1979. The last time the Sonics made the Finals was in the 1995-96 season.
When the SuperSonics became the Thunder in the 2008-09 season by moving to Oklahoma City, there was lots of fan backlash and deservedly so. Since the move, the Thunder have made the NBA Finals one time in the 2011-12 season against the Miami Heat with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
It was thought that with Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and James Harden, they would be back, but the Thunder front office traded Harden to the Rockets for pennies on the dollar, ultimately signaling the end of that run. Since then, it has been mostly first-round exits with Westbrook leading the team after Durant left.
Finally, after landing the current MVP, the front office built around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with lots of draft picks and also good signings and trades.
The current day Thunder are a mix of players with lots of length and size with a suffocating defense.
Indiana Pacers
The Pacers were one of the ABA teams that came into the NBA with the merger in 1976. In the ABA the Pacers won 3 titles.
It wasn’t until the Pacers drafted Reggie Miller in the 1987 draft with the No. 11 pick that they rose to prominence again. He was an impact player. From the 1989-90 season until the 2004-05 season, Reggie had the Pacers in the playoffs all but one year.
Unfortunately, Reggie played in the era of Michael Jordan. In 2000, Jordan had already retired for two seasons, helping the Pacers make the Finals only to face a young Kobe Bryant and a dominant Shaq in the middle of their dynasty.
After that, the Malice at the Palace cut short Reggie’s last championship hopes. After the Reggie Miller Era, it became the Paul George Era with the defensive-minded Pacers, coached by Frank Vogel.
Once again, though, there was a dominant player that prevented them from reaching their ceiling with the Heatles and LeBron. After Paul George went to the Thunder, the Pacers went into a small rebuild around Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis. Eventually, they traded Sabonis for Tyrese Haliburton, helping them become the team they are today.
2025 NBA Finals
The main difference between the two teams is size and the main focus for each side.
The Thunder like to focus more on defense as they lead all teams with 10.8 steals per game and have the best defensive rating with 104.7.
On the Pacers’ side, they mainly focus on offense and lead the playoffs with 28.1 assists per game, 49.7% field goal shooting and 40.1% shooting from 3-point range.
The main things to look for in these NBA Finals will be the assist-to-turnover ratio for the Pacers, offensive rebounds from the Thunder and the pace at which the Thunder play.
Matchups for both teams
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander versus Tyrese Haliburton
This is the main matchup for the Finals in two star guards who are two different types of players. SGA is a defensive scoring guard. It is pretty common for him to score 30 points and carry the offense for the Thunder, while Haliburton is more of a pass-first point guard.
Haliburton is averaging 9.8 assists and 1.9 turnovers per game in the playoffs. That 9.8 is best in the league. What will determine this series is how much SGA and the Thunder can affect Haliburton on the defensive end and how much the Pacers collectively can defend SGA on offense.
Myles Turner versus Chet Holmgren
This is probably the biggest X-Factor for both teams. How much Chet is rebounding and how much Turner is scoring will determine how each team is doing. With the Thunder, they want to get a stop and run and while Turner can outscore Chet and do the little things like assisting and getting steals.
Dates of games
Game 1 — Pacers at Thunder, Thursday, June 5 at 8:30 PM ET on ABC
Game 2 — Pacers at Thunder, Sunday, June 8 at 8:00 PM ET on ABC
Game 3 — Thunder at Pacers, Wednesday, June 11 at 8:30 PM ET on ABC
Game 4 — Thunder at Pacers, Friday, June 13 at 8:30 PM ET on ABC
Game 5 — Pacers at Thunder, Monday, June 16 at 8:30 PM ET on ABC
Game 6 — Thunder at Pacers, Thursday, June 19 at 8:30 PM ET on ABC
Game 7 — Pacers at Thunder, Sunday, June 22 at 8:00 PM ET on ABC
My Finals Predictions — Pacers in 6
When I am not posting ridiculous trades on here you can find me talking about Nintendo, LGBT content, music, and the Lakers on my Twitter. You can follow Alexis on Twitter at @BeautifulShy_RS and on BluSky at @msshyskye.bsky.social.