The 2025 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers tips off on Thursday from the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.

After an eventful first three rounds, the NBA season will conclude in the coming weeks, with either the Pacers winning their first NBA championship or the Thunder claiming their first title since 1979, as the Seattle SuperSonics.

League MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shined all season and led the Thunder into the playoffs with a 68-14 regular-season record. With the Canadian star in the forefront and a deep, well-rounded cast, Oklahoma City swept the Memphis Grizzlies, came out on top after seven games against the Denver Nuggets and bested the gritty Minnesota Timberwolves in five games.

The Thunder are making their first Finals appearance since Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook lost to LeBron James and the Miami Heat in 2012.

While Gilgeous-Alexander basked in the MVP glory, Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton was voted the "most overrated" player by his peers in an anonymous poll from The Athletic late in the regular season. That proved to be the fuel he needed to run through the Eastern Conference. The team secured the fourth seed with a 50-32 regular-season record and went on a dragon-slaying run to their first Finals appearance since 2000.

Along with former NBA champion and eventual Eastern Conference Finals MVP Pascal Siakam, the Pacers beat the Milwaukee Bucks and upset the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in five games each. They then traded haymakers with the New York Knicks in a heated six-game series that produced plenty of viral moments.