US media: A ironic day Durant s Rockets become the defending biggest opponent

Oklahoma City -- The Oklahoma City Thunder won the 2025 NBA championship in Game 7 of the NBA Finals — the team’s first title in 17 years — a game that left the Pacers losing their star guard, Tyreth Halliburton, who lost in the first quarter due to a potentially devastating right calf injury.

trailed 48-47 at halftime, Oklahoma City — after a brilliant play from the league’s MVP Shay Gilgius Alexander — owned one of its patented dominant third quarters, defeating Indiana 34-20 in 12 minutes and leading 13 points in the fourth quarter, the Thunder will never give up. In the end, he won the championship 103-91!

Thunder's first championship in history: Invincible in the mindset

Oklahoma City has made a transformation in the past few years, with the team winning 22 and 24 games in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, to top the Western Conference playoffs every year in the past two seasons. They have another 68-win season this year after 56 wins last season—one of the seven best records in NBA history in a single season.

This is also the pinnacle of the vision of the team general manager Sam Presti, who has been in charge of the team since his last year in Seattle in 2007-08. Since coming to Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder have achieved the second most regular season wins, behind the Boston Celtics and ranked fifth in the playoffs.

But until this year, the final prize—the championship—has been passing by the Thunder. And, after losing to the Miami Heat in five games in the 2012 NBA Finals and then nearly losing in the 2014 and 2016 Western Conference Finals, it’s unclear whether that will happen to one of the smallest teams in the NBA market.

Irony Day: Thunder’s championship Durant was traded as the Thunder’s defending biggest opponent

Ironically, on the same day, Kevin Durant, the base member of the first championship Thunder, was traded to the Houston Rockets, which could make them the biggest threat to Oklahoma City’s second out of the Western Conference playoffs next season, with the Rockets currently second only to the Thunder among the top favorites in the championship next season!

bid farewell to the Duhawei period and open a new chapter! Achievement of the second youngest championship in history

"While saying goodbye to the past, we have begun to plan our future," Presti wrote at the time. "The next great Thunder is somewhere, but it takes time to catch and discipline to finally keep it going."

It turns out that this doesn't take much time at all. Joining Girgius Alexander in 2019 is Lugenz Dort, an unselected free agent who has developed into a first-team all-around defensive player. In 2022, Oklahoma City won two other long-term base players in Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, the former ranked second in Gonzaga and the latter ranked 12th in Santa Clara.

Both of them played a big role in OKC’s playoffs. Williams struggled at times early in these playoffs, but played a great series in the Finals, including a career-high 40 points in Game 5. Homegren missed more than half of the regular season with a hip injury, and he didn't shoot well in the Finals, but affected the game in many other ways.

As both of them may sign long-term contract extensions in the coming weeks - and Giljos Alexander, who also qualifies for a big contract - this may just be the beginning for the Thunder, as the Thunder have only two players over 27 on the roster and are now the second-youngest in NBA history, behind the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers.