Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder to break huge streak in 2025 NBA Finals

History will be made one way or another as the Indiana Pacers take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2025 NBA Finals. While the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers have racked up 18 and 17 championships respectively, the Pacers and the Thunder, in their current guise, will be bidding to get their hands on the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy for the very first time.

Have the Pacers or Thunder ever won the NBA Finals?

The Thunder franchise was originally established as the Seattle SuperSonics, who won their only championship in 1979. Since moving to Oklahoma in 2008, the Thunder has reached the NBA Finals once, losing to the Miami Heat in 2012.

The Pacers, meanwhile, have also been beaten finalists once, losing to the Lakers in 2000.

Pacers or Thunder to make NBA history

Whether the Pacers or the Thunder come out on top, a streak stretching all the way back to 1980 will finally be broken. We are guaranteed to have a different NBA champion for the seventh season in succession, the longest such stretch in the history of the league.

The previous high was six, which occurred between 1975 and 1980. On that occasion, the winners were:

Since then, we have seen periods of dominance for the Lakers, the Chicago Bulls and the Golden State Warriors, who won three times in four years between 2015 and 2018. From then on, however, franchises across the country have taken turns at having their moment in the spotlight.

NBA Finals schedule

• Game 1: Pacers at Thunder (Thursday, June 5, 8:30 ET, ABC)
• Game 2: Pacers at Thunder (Sunday, June 8, 8 ET, ABC)
• Game 3: Thunder at Pacers (Wednesday, June 11, 8:30 ET, ABC)
• Game 4: Thunder at Pacers (Friday, June 13, 8:30 ET, ABC)
• Game 5: Pacers at Thunder, (Monday, June 16, 8:30 ET, ABC)*
• Game 6: Thunder at Pacers (Thursday, June 19, 8:30 ET, ABC)*
• Game 7: Pacers at Thunder, Sunday, June 22, 8 ET on ABC)*

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