NBA Finals 2025: How will Pacers-Thunder impact legacies? Here’s what’s on the line for key players
June 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM UTC·10 min read
As Thursday’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals approaches, it is time for our annual deep dive into what the championship series will mean for the legacies of many of its participants. The 78th edition of the Finals will feature the young Oklahoma City Thunder, the underdog Indiana Pacers and so many stories.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
When asked at the All-Star Game about being among the faces of the NBA — and if he had any desire to be the face of the game — Gilgeous-Alexander said, “It’s something we as players don’t have full control over. It’s literally for the world to decide; whoever the world gravitates to is going to become it naturally.”
Well, here is Gilgeous-Alexander, on the game’s grandest stage, with the world watching.
We are in the midst of the longest streak in which the NBA’s regular-season MVP has not advanced to win the championship. Gilgeous-Alexander has the chance to become the first player since Stephen Curry in 2015 to win MVP and a championship in the same season. And he has the chance to become the first player since LeBron James in 2013 to win regular-season MVP and Finals MVP honors in the same season.
You may have heard of Curry and James. They are the biggest names in the sport. This is what happens when you meld individual success with team success; together it launches you into another stratosphere — one reserved only for the all-timers, and SGA is daring to join them on the very precipice of his prime.
Ten players in NBA history have won regular-season and Finals MVP honors in the same season, and only two of them are guards: Magic Johnson (1987) and Michael Jordan (1991-92, 1996, 1998). Likewise, Jordan is the only guard ever to win the scoring title and a championship in the same season. He did it six times. Gilgeous-Alexander, who averaged a league-leading 32.7 points per game this season, could join Jordan.
And wouldn’t that be something: Jordan’s six championship seasons, and Gilgeous-Alexander’s one. In their own conversation.
This is where we remind you that Jordan was 28 years old when he first won a championship. Gilgeous-Alexander does not turn 27 until July 12. Any way you slice it, if Gilgeous-Alexander were to win the title this season, his season would belong among the very best for a guard in NBA history, and he will have done it at an earlier age than anyone else, including Jordan. That will force us to reckon with a number of questions, including where he belongs among the greats and whether he can replicate this feat.
With a ring, Gilgeous-Alexander would have something point guards Steve Nash, John Stockton and Chris Paul do not. In that case, he might only be chasing multi-time champions Johnson, Curry, Isiah Thomas and Bob Cousy at his true position. They are the Point Gods, and SGA could soon walk among them.
Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
Somewhat lost in the improbability of Indiana’s NBA Finals run is the fact that Haliburton has done this at such a young age. The best player on the Pacers at just 25 years old. He has already accomplished something few players ever do, leading his team to the championship series in only his fifth season.
With a victory against Oklahoma City, though, Haliburton would join an even more select few. The list of All-Stars who served as the best player on a championship team before his 26th birthday includes only Bill Russell, Bob Pettit, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Dwyane Wade.
In other words: Wade was the only one to do it this century.
All but Pettit went on to win multiple championships. They are also all members of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team. A win over the Thunder would all but guarantee that, when the NBA’s next anniversary team is announced, Haliburton will be included among the 100 greatest players ever.
Pascal Siakam, Indiana Pacers
Siakam is six years and three All-Star selections removed from helping the Toronto Raptors to the 2019 NBA championship, along with Kawhi Leonard. A win with the Pacers would make him the second-best player on two title teams — already a