Past trades yield harvest as Pacers, Thunder clash in Finals
The seeds for the 2025 NBA Finals began getting planted unknowingly in 2017, back when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was about to enroll at Kentucky and Tyrese Haliburton was getting ready for his senior year of high school in Wisconsin.
That was the year the Indiana Pacers traded Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Pacers landed Domantas Sabonis out of that deal. The Thunder would trade George in 2019 to the Los Angeles Clippers for a package that included Gilgeous-Alexander. The Pacers would trade Sabonis in 2022 to Sacramento for a package that included Haliburton.
And here we are.
Gilgeous-Alexander is the NBA’s MVP and Oklahoma City’s best player. Haliburton is an Olympic gold medalist and Indiana’s best player. They’ll lead their teams into Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night—Indiana at Oklahoma City, the start of a series that will decide who hoists the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
“Man, I’m just so proud of this group,” Haliburton said in the on-court televised interview with TNT after the Pacers’ 125-108 victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. “I don’t even have words right now. It’s really exciting. We’ll enjoy this one for now. There’s four more, there’s a lot more work to do, against a really tough team.”
The Thunder—depending on how you count—are in the Finals for either the second time or the fifth. The franchise, when it was in Seattle, lost what was then called the NBA World Championship Series to Washington in 1978, then won the title in a rematch against the then-Bullets in 1979 and lost in the NBA Finals to Chicago in 1996. Oklahoma City got to the finals in 2012, losing to Miami.
From slow start
The Thunder are 80-18 this season, after going 68-14 in the regular season and then 12-4 in the playoffs—sweeping Memphis in Round 1, surviving seven games against Denver in Round 2, and then ousting Minnesota in five games for the Western Conference title.
Indiana is in the NBA title round for the second time, having lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000. The Pacers franchise won ABA titles in 1970, 1972 and 1973. They got out of the Eastern Conference as the No. 4 seed, beating Milwaukee in five games in Round 1, beating top-seeded Cleveland in five games in Round 2, and then beating New York in the conference finals.
The Pacers were 10-15 through the first 25 games of the season—then went 40-17 to finish the regular season. They are the fourth team to start 10-15 or worse and go on to win a conference title, joining Seattle in 1977 to 1978 (8-17), the 1956 to 1957 St. Louis Hawks (10-15) and the 1958 to 1959 Minneapolis Lakers (10-15). None of those teams went on to win the NBA title.
“In 49 states, it’s just basketball,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “But this is Indiana … Our guys earned this. Congratulations to our guys.”
Oklahoma City swept the season series with Indiana 2-0, part of a regular season where the Thunder—who finished with the NBA’s best record—went 29-1 against the Eastern Conference. That doesn’t include a loss to Milwaukee in the NBA Cup final, a game that didn’t count in any standings.
