There is a runway now for the Oklahoma City Thunder, one that extends beyond the NBA championship they won Sunday night and into the foreseeable future. One that could enable them to build a mini-dynasty, to soar over a league weighed down by parity.
The roster, led by regular-season and Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is as young as it is deep, averaging not quite 26 years per man. OKC also has a treasure trove of draft picks in the years ahead – Nos. 15, 24 and 44 in Wednesday’s selection process, and 20 more choices in the four drafts that follow. Certainly the Thunder won’t keep them all, but that cache will give them the flexibility to make the sort of shrewd trades for which general manager Sam Presti has come to be known.
So they’re set up for success, for a string of titles. But then again, didn’t we think that about Denver, which won it in 2023? Or Boston last season? The Nuggets had (and have) a generational player in Nikola Jokic, and a worthy supporting cast. The Celtics had the Jayson Tatum–Jaylen Brown axis around which to build. Yet neither team managed to repeat – Denver because it parted with key role players like Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Boston because of injuries, none bigger than the Achilles tear suffered by Tatum in this year’s Eastern Conference semifinals against the Knicks.
There hasn’t been a repeat champion since Golden State went back to back in ‘17 and ‘18, a seven-year string that is hardly unprecedented. There was also a 17-season drought, beginning in 1970, ending in 1987 and bracketed on either end by consecutive titles on the part of the Celtics and Lakers (naturally). Those two teams also won multiple titles in between, but never two in a row.
Then there were several dynasties of varying lengths, the Bulls, Spurs and Warriors foremost among them. The Thunder has a chance to be the next one, though they were provided a stark reminder of how quickly things can go sideways in Game 7 of the Finals against Indiana.
We’ve all seen the video by now – Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, off to a hot start, crumpling to the floor in agony in the first quarter. And on Monday, the worst was confirmed: Like Tatum (not to mention Damian Lillard, in a first-round series against Indiana), he had shredded his Achilles, leaving his ‘25-26 season in doubt and putting Indiana on a far less certain trajectory than it had appeared.
(And given those three injuries, think about how wide open the East now appears to be. You have Cleveland, New York and … Detroit? Orlando? If the Sixers hit on their pick Wednesday, and if, somehow, Joel Embiid and Paul George are in reasonably good health – a long shot, I know – they could be in the mix as well.)
Anyway, the Thunder. A lot needs to go right, if they’re gonna go on the sort of run that looks possible now. Consider this example from their own history: In 2012, they reached the Finals, losing to Miami. But they had Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Surely there were titles in their future.
Or not.
Harden was traded before the ‘12-13 season. Durant left via free agency in 2016, and Westbrook was jettisoned three years later. This year’s trip to the Finals was their first since the one in 2012.
The point is, nothing is ever as certain as it seems. The ball bounces funny sometimes. (Ask Sixers fans about that, if you dare, as it pertains to a certain shot taken by Kawhi Leonard.) Players get nutty about money, not to mention minutes and touches. The salary cap forces teams to part with guys they really don’t want to part with (as was the case with OKC and Harden).
So Godspeed to the Thunder. They are worthy champions, and it certainly looks like they have a long runway. But they would do well to keep their tray tables in the upright and locked position, because there’s always turbulence. Always.