Five teams that could be the biggest threats to the Thunder next season

The Oklahoma City Thunder are NBA champions after a 103-91 win over the Indiana Pacers Sunday night. The end of the NBA Finals means the beginning of 29 other teams gearing up to take the Thunder down next season. Here are five teams who could challenge the new champs in 2025-26.

1. Houston Rockets

The Rockets didn't wait for the end of the NBA Finals to make an aggressive move. Hours before Game 7 on Sunday, Houston swung a deal to get Kevin Durant from the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and the No. 10 pick in Wednesday's NBA draft.

Houston had the NBA's No. 4 defense this season and finished second in the Western Conference, but their offense bogged down in a first-round loss to the Golden State Warriors. That offense got much better with Durant replacing Brooks, while the defense might be even better with more minutes for Amen Thompson and Tari Eason. Plus, they bothered the Thunder with the the Alperen Sengun-Steven Adams double-big lineup. Now the Rockets could conceivably play quadruple-big lineups with 6-foot-11 forwards Jabari Smith, Jr. and Durant on the wings.

The Rockets went 2-2 versus the Thunder last season. There's room for improvement.

2. Cleveland Cavaliers

Cleveland went 64-18 last season, but lost in the second round thanks to injuries to point guard Darius Garland and great shooting by the Indiana Pacers. The team has some decisions to make this summer, namely about guard Ty Jerome and their many small forwards, but having four All-Stars in the starting lineup goes a long way.

The Cavaliers can also bother the Thunder with size, with Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen inside. But where they could really confound the steal-happy Thunder is their ability to avoid turnovers (third-fewest in the NBA last season) and knock down three-pointers, where they were second in made three-pointers and three-point percentage. As great as the Thunder are, they're vulnerable to a team that can outscore them from deep.

3. Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets are getting older. Jamal Murray can be inconsistent. The coach and general manager were feuding all year and both got fired late last season, while the team had about 1.5 reliable bench players in the playoffs and two injured starting forwards.

Still, they took the Thunder to seven games. Nikola Jokic is simply that good. And while the Nuggets bench has been wretched the last two seasons, that's a much easier area to improve than the starting lineup — especially since new coach David Adelman seems far more willing to play young reserves than his predecessor Michael Malone. If Jokic has just a little more help next year, a matchup with OKC could go very differently.

4. Los Angeles Lakers

Luka Doncic knocked the Thunder out of the playoffs in 2024 as a member of the Dallas Mavericks. Could he do it again as a Laker? It would require the team to add an actual center alongside Doncic and LeBron James, but the Lakers seem to have stars fall into their laps regularly over the years — including Doncic. Plus, in Austin Reaves, the Lakers have a player who may be even better at drawing questionable fouls than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

5. Golden State Warriors

The Warriors match up surprisingly well with the Thunder, and went 2-1 against them last season. At the advanced age of 37, Steph Curry can still break elite defenses. After trading four players to get Jimmy Butler, the Golden State defense was fairly elite, too. Now they've got time to help build out their roster, and restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga (or who they could get by trading him) could be huge as Curry gears up for a "Last Dance" season.