When was the last time the Oklahoma City Thunder reached the conference finals?

The Dallas Mavericks ended Oklahoma City Thunder’s dreams of making this year’s NBA conference final. Mark Daigneault’s men were eliminated at the semifinal stage, losing the series 2-4. OKC had started out as the No.1 seeds in the Western Conference, topped the standings with a 57-25 record. They strolled through the first round, beating New Orleans by a resounding 4-0 but were continually pegged back by the Mavs in an incredibly tight series which they initially led, then were forced to retaliate after going a game down twice.

In his end-of-season interview, Daigneault said he was proud of his team and the improvement he has seen, individually and collectively: “If you look a year ago, at the trajectory of the team, the trajectory of individual players, the growth of the team... I think we made a ton of progress. Now, at the end of every season, you’re never putting the finishing touches on the picture, under any circumstance. We have a long way to go and we have a lot of progress in front of us and a long road to do that. I’m incredibly encouraged by the progress we did make. These are high-level games that taught individual players where they need to improve, they taught us as a team where we need to improve, and we’re learning those lessons, we let it sink in. It’s important to step back and look at the big picture, and the big picture is very encouraging”.

Oklahoma City Thunder’s best postseason campaigns

This was OKC’s first time in the playoffs since 2020 when they were dumped out by Houston in the first round. Oklahoma have made it to the postseason a total of 33 times since the first time they secured a place in the playoffs in 1975 as the Seattle SuperSonics, under Bill Russell. The Sonics edged past the Knicks in the opening round but were outplayed by the Celtics in the semifinals, losing the series 4-1. The team made it to the semifinals the following year and in 1977, losing to the Warriors and the Suns respectively.

The Seattle SuperSonics eventually made it to the conference final for the first time in 1978 with Bob Hopkins at the helm. The team finished the regular season fourth (47-35) and faced against a Lakers side boasting Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Adrian Dantley in the first round. The Sonics won games 1 and 3 to clinch their second playoff victory in franchise history advance to the semifinals where the Trail Blazers awaited. The series went to six games, with Seattle winning 4-2 to book a place in the conference final for the first time.

The Denver Nuggets stood in the way of a place in the NBA final. After losing Game 1 107-116 in Denver, the Sonics bounced back to take the next three games. The Nuggets took Game 4 but it was all over when the series returned to Seattle with Gus Williams and Fred Brown contributing 24 and 26 points respectively and Marvin Webster finishing with a double-double: 18 points and 13 rebounds. The Sonics had won their first conference final and were braced for another first - the chance to be crowned champions. The Washington Bullets dashed those dreams with the series tied at 3-3, the Bullets edged Game 7 105-99 becoming the 12th road team to win the last game in the final.

‘The Wizard’ Williams ended the playoffs top of the leaderboard for the Sonics, averaging 18.3 points, 4 assists and 2 steals per game.

Seattle made it to the Western Conference finals for the second time in 1979, beating the Lakers (4-1) and the Suns (4-3) on the way. For the second year running they would take on the Bullets for the championship. This time they got their revenge, beating Washington 4-1 with Dennis Johnson landing the MVP to collect their first ring.

In 1980 they met the Lakers for the third consecutive time in the playoffs. Playing alongside Kareem for Los Angeles was a promising young rookie who had been drafted the previous year - Magic Johnson. Lenny Wilkens’ team nicked Game 1 by a point at the Forum but the Lakers went on to win the next four games to secure a place in the final. Magic averaged an incredible 17 points 9 rebounds and 9 assists Kareem weighed in with 31/12.

The Sonics had to wait another seven years to get as far as the conference finals - they did so in 1987, after surprising everyone by beating Dallas and Houston in the earlier rounds. Once again, the Lakers stood in the way. Magic Johnson, who picked up his first MVP award during the series, once again dominated with a an average of 20 points 7 rebounds and 11 assists with James Worthy as the Lakers top scorer with an average of 30 points per game as it ended 4-0.

Seattle’s next appearance in the conference finals was in 1993, up against the Phoenix Suns who had home court advantage and MVP Charles Barkley. The series went back and forth over six games to be settled in a seventh game which had its fair share of controversy as the Suns were awarded 64 free-throws. Phoenix took the game 110-123 to take the series 4-3.

They had better luck next time, beating the Jazz 4-3 in the 1996 Western Conference final only to lost the big final 4-2 to the Bulls.

Have the Oklahoma City Thunder ever won a championship?

Fifteen years would pass before the team made it to the conference finals, by which time, the franchise had upped sticks and changed its name to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Scott Brooks guided OKC to the conference finals in 2011 with victories over the Nuggets and Grizzlies. Despite Kevin Durant averaging 28 points, 9.4 rebounds and 4 assists, the Mavs, with an inspired Dirk Nowitzki took the series 4-1.

OKC were back the following year, getting revenge on Dallas by eliminating them in the first round, then beating the Lakers in the semifinals. With Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka firing on all cylinders, the team beat the San Antonio Spurs 4-1 only to fall in the final once again - this time to the Heat.

Since then OKC Thunder have made it to the conference finals three times: in 2014 when they lost to the Spurs (4-2), in 2016 when Golden State denied them a place in the final. The Warriors roared back after going 3-1 down (becoming the 10th team in NBA History to overturn such a deficit in the playoffs) to take the series 4-3. The Mavs were the latest team to dash the Thunder’s hopes of another appearance in the big final.

To date, the Oklahoma City Thunder and in their previous guise as the Seattle Supersonics have played in 10 conference finals, winning three and losing seven. The team has played in three NBA finals, winning the championship just once - in 1979 when they defeated the Washington Bullets 4-1.