2025 Finals Could be the Culmination of OKC Thunder's Journey

When it's all said and done, the Oklahoma City Thunder's rebuilding period was rather brief compared to what it usually takes NBA teams to turn their franchise around.

Following the Paul George and Russell Westbrook trades in 2019, Oklahoma City has only missed the playoffs three times. In the 2022-23 season, it finished with a 40-win campaign but couldn't advance out of the Play-In Tournament.

The Thunder's rise to the top of the Western Conference was quick. It has finished with the No. 1 seed two seasons in a row, and now, Oklahoma City can finally call itself the champions of the West. This whole process has been carried out with the same corps group of players at the helm: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren.

All of the work and development has paid off in 2025, as the Thunder look to win its first NBA Finals in franchise history against the Indiana Pacers. The vision set years ago is a reality.

"When I first got here, we all had a vision," guard Luguentz Dort said. "The main thing was to develop and get better. I feel like we checked a lot of those boxes to get to the point we are today... It would mean a lot to get it done. Not just for us, but for the city and organization."

Oklahoma City's young timeline lends itself to being able to compete for championships for the next several years, but there's an open window that it wants to take advantage of now. It's been 13 years since the Thunder was in this position, so anything less than a win this time would feel like a frustrating disappointment.

It might've seemed early to predict an Oklahoma City championship just a couple of years ago, but this group has formed itself into one of the all-time best performing teams. A Larry O'Brien trophy would only help cement that status for good.