My (belated) prediction for the NBA Finals

(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Your 2025 NBA Champions are... The Oklahoma City Thunder. As OKC is the clear favorite. I'm not a basketball guru who spends my free-time breaking down film, I didn't even watch OKC play a regular season game but anyone can see that Oklahoma City is going to be the champion.

But I very much hope that I am wrong. The Pacers are incredible, their late game heroics are unmatched, truly. Josh Dubow tweeted out "Pacers trailed by 9 with 2:52 to play. In play by play era (since start of 1997 playoffs), teams were 0-121 in NBA Finals when trailing by 7+ points in final 3:00 of 4th quarter or OT before tonight" (Athletic). That metric alone shows that Indiana is unlike any team we've seen before and no lead is safe. Which is very entertaining.

The thunder are the most complete roster in the NBA. Shai is the MVP, Chet is doing an amazing big, and Jaylen Williams (J dub not J Will) is an amazing 3rd option. There's your big three. Outside of that you have Lu Dort, a linebacker that somehow ended up on an NBA roster and is the better for it. Isiah Hartenstein, who even though his plus/minus while he's been on the court this season is not great, is a reliable backup for Chet and a great 2nd big when OKC decides to have him and Holmgren on the floor. ANd my personal favorite, Alex Caruso. 1st team all-defense two years ago and 2nd team all-defense last year, he's putting up almost the same number of steals this year (1.6/gm) as his all-defensive years (1.7 - 2024, 1.5 - 2023) and with less minutes (19.3 - 2025, 28.7 - 2024, 23.5 - 2023).

Cason Wallace, J Will, and Aaron Wiggins are also great options and serve as meaningful backups for the OKC's starting five to rest their legs in the playoffs.

But again those Pacers... Aaron Nesmith had the single best shooting run I have ever witnessed. Hitting nine threes in game 1 vs. New York with six of those coming in the 4th quarter. If you're a a sports fan and your team is losing at the end of the game and they can't win (ex. down 5 with 1 minute left in the 4th quarter) there's some delusional part of you that thinks they can still do it... Aaron Nesmith is that voice and had thus made me an even more delusional sports fan.

Tyrese Haliburton is definitely NOT overrated (even though he was voted that in the Athletic's NBA player poll). He has led this team in all of their comebacks and plays with the most passion of anyone on the court. Pascal Siakam has one of the best turnaround jumpers (not to mention every other part of his game), and Myles Turner is a reliant big man in the paint.

Everything I've said above has been said before. Most of what I said above was pulled from other articles, instagram, twitter, NBA broadcasts, and plain common sense. But the one thing I disagree with that seems to be circulating around mainstream media is that this is not going to be a good finals. The ratings debate is already raging which I think is so ridiculous I won't say anymore on it. These are two teams who have never won a championship with almost zero players who have won a championship. Indiana has some of the best fans and a addictive relationship to basketball and the same goes for Oklahoma City's fans.

But what will make this a good finals is the Indiana Pacers. A team who you have to shoot head, put nails in the coffin, bury six feet under, and still worry they might coming crawling out. No lead is safe, no strategy is efficient. The thunder are already on top of the mountain, because everyone thinks they are. Their job now is to keep the Pacers from sneaking up on them and close it out.