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Thunder championship ends bizarre 8-year NBA Finals streak

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Renzo Pocholo Salao | Last updated Jun 23, 2025 9:41 AM ET

The Oklahoma City Thunder are the 2025 NBA champions, and they didn’t even need a former Washington Wizards player to do it.

On Sunday, the Thunder bested the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. The result ended a long-running streak amongst the previous eight title winners.

From 2017 to 2024, every team to have hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy at season’s end had an ex-Wizard in its lineup. Last season, the Boston Celtics had Kristaps Porzingis. The 2022-23 Denver Nuggets had four of them in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Jeff Green, Ish Smith, and Thomas Bryant.

The Wizards-related streak extended all the way back to the 2017 Cleveland Cavaliers-Golden State Warriors series, when the Warriors rostered fan favorites Shaun Livingston and JaVale McGee. The two were teammates in Washington during the 2009-10 campaign. You can see the full list below.

A Former Wizard Has Won The NBA Title In The Last 8 Consecutive Seasons

Pacers Thomas Bryant And Quenton Jackson Have A Chance To Make It 9 Years In June pic.twitter.com/VvA75Wekmu
— WizardsMuse (@WizardsMuse1) June 1, 2025

Bryant and Quenton Jackson were the only former Wizards players remaining in the NBA Finals. Both played for the runner-up Pacers, who failed to overcome Tyrese Haliburton’s brutal injury in Game 7.

The 2017 postseason, when the ex-Wizards championship streak first began, also marked the last time Washington made it past the second round of the playoffs. Since then, the Wizards have missed the playoffs in six of eight seasons.

Some Wizards fans believe that the Thunder winning the title means that the curse on the franchise has been lifted. But the malaise of being a Washington hoops supporter goes far beyond the past decade.

The Wizards hold the longest active conference finals drought in the “Big Four” sports by a significant margin, last making it that far in 1979. That year also marks the last time Washington won 50 games in a season.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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