5 Storylines For OKC Thunder-Indiana Pacers NBA Finals

For the first time since 2012, the Oklahoma City Thunder are back in the NBA Finals. It is a flyover affair as the Indiana Pacers make their return to this stage for the first time since 2000. Each side is seeking its first NBA Championship in franchise history.

This series is such to bring plenty of storylines and intrigue regardless of the small market nature of the best-of-seven set.

1) Legacy Defining Finals

The Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers are looking for their first NBA Championship, but look no further than the head of the snake for each side.

If Shai Gilgeous-Alexander goes for a clean sweep of the NBA MVP Award, the Western Conference Finals MVP and Finals MVP honors while leading the league in scoring on jaw-dropping efficiency and completing one of the best seasons we have ever seen, his ranking on the modern and all-time NBA lists skyrockets.

To capture your first ring at age 26 on a roster that is set up for sustained success is opening the door for a historic run for Gilgeous-Alexander.

On the flip side, Tyrese Haliburton is only 25 years old and constantly doubted; four peers voted him as the most overrated player in the NBA this very season. Pundits are hesitant to crown him a superstar no many how many postseason heroics he pulls off.

The Iowa State product broke through after his second straight trip to the Eastern Conference Finals and if he takes over this series to allow the Pacers to pull of this upset, not only is he a superstar but with a wide-open Eastern Conference in front of him and Indiana, the conversations shift around what this run has been or will be.

2) Rick Carlisle vs. Mark Daigneault

Carlisle is entering his sixth NBA Finals in some capacity (Three as a player, two as a head coach and one as an assistant) while this is Daigneault's first appearance on this stage.

The Thunder's head coach is still one of the youngest in the NBA and already has a Coach of the Year trophy on his mantle. Daigneault is quickly rising as one of the best bench bosses in the sport, but the chess match against Carlisle will be must-see TV.

The Pacers' bench boss is known for not only maximizing his talent at every stop, every season, but also scheming up unique ways to flip disadvantages into advantages. How Daigneault and company adjust to those adjustments will go a long way in deciding this series.

“I have a lot of respect for him. He’s had an unbelievable life in basketball. When you look at all the things he's experienced in his playing career and his assistant coaching career and his head coaching career. He’s forgotten more about the game than most of us have seen," Daigneault said of Carlisle Sunday. "I have a lot of respect for him. He's the president of the Coaches Association. He's got 29 really good relationships with the coaches and is in constant communication with us."

These two have a history together and a great respect for one another. In the NBA Finals, the strategies and schemes deployed by coaches go a long way.

Carlisle has a chance to be just the fourth head coach to win an NBA Championship with multiple NBA organizations after he led the Dallas Mavericks to the 2011 title. He would join Alex Hannum, Phil Jackson and Pat Riley.

3) Ball Security

The Indiana Pacers are one of the best clubs at protecting the basketball, the Oklahoma City Thunder happens to cling to possessions better than the Pacers. Something has to give in the NBA Finals. As both teams refuse to turn it over.

Oklahoma City forces turnovers at an elite rate, which helps the Thunder own a historically great defense that has only gotten better in the postseason. The odds say that the Pacers will not give in to the Thunder's chaotic defense that overwhelms teams into turnovers.

Indiana has not played at the caliber of defense of Oklahoma City, but if they are still able to limit turnovers as expected, how does that impact the game?

The biggest key will still be that turnover battle, while it might not be as gaudy of the 20-plus giveaway nights that the Thunder are use to creating, if OKC can force 10-plus while keeping their turnovers to around 7 or less, that is still a sizable gap in the margins to help the Thunder's defense thrive.

4) Top Offense vs. Best Defense

Along those same lines, the Indiana Pacers have been an offensive juggernaut for most of this season and especially in the postseason, setting the nets ablaze from beyond the arc.

The Thunder's defense typically swarms the ball, especially lead guards and post players of the caliber of Pascal Siakam. That has found great success for Oklahoma City throughout these playoffs, but the NBA Finals will be different. Indiana tosses out the best collection of role players from beyond the arc that the Thunder have faced all postseason. Giving up clean looks from the corners might doom OKC in a few games with the playmaking chops of Tyrese Haliburton and the quick-decision secondary playmakers the Pacers possess.

Does the Pacers' elite offense force the Thunder to change its historically great defensive identity? Will Indiana be overwhelmed by this typically great look from Oklahoma City's defense that has worked all season long?

This battle will be the biggest storyline the length of this NBA Finals.

5) An Introduction

This is the first time since 2007 that neither team in the NBA Finals was showcased on the league's biggest regular-season date: Christmas Day. The Pacers and Thunder were held out of the NBA spotlight during the 2024-25 campaign as a misstep by the association. Now, they get to introduce themselves to the NBA masses.

On top of casual fans finally getting the chance to sink their teeth into these two small-market clubs that have played great this season (For Indiana, especially since the turn of the new year), but an introduction to two squads who should be set up for sustained success.

If Oklahoma City pulls off this ring, they will immediately be placed into talks of a dynasty with everyone under club control for next season and clean cap sheets to retain their top-end talent in the future.

No matter if the Pacers win this series or not, look around the porous Eastern Conference, which is riddled with injuries and bottom feeders to cast a wide-open net for who next year's champions will be, with Indiana in the driver's seat.

Neither team is going away any time soon and the NBA Finals will serve as an arrival not a swan song.

The NBA Finals begin on Thursday, June 5, inside the Paycom Center on ABC. Stay tuned to Thunder on SI for complete coverage of the NBA Finals.