On Thursday, the NBA Finals will tip off between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder. Both have had incredible runs to be the last teams standing with Oklahoma City being the top overall seed and Indiana getting hot at the right time.
The biggest takeaway from this iteration of the NBA Finals is that it features two balanced and deep teams battling it out.
A crucial player in the series believes this matchup is likely a sign of things to come in the NBA as well. Indiana’s Myles Turner expressed how this coming series seemingly signifies a shift to the NBA’s era of parity.
“I think it’s a new blueprint for the league,” said Myles Turner. “I think the years of the super teams and stacking, it’s just not as effective as it once was, you know what I mean? Since I’ve been in the league, the NBA has been very trendy; it just shifts. But the new trend now is just kind of what we’re doing. OKC does the same thing – young guys get out and run, defend and use the power of friendship.”
Indiana and Oklahoma City have a plethora of good players, and they’ve meshed harmoniously for both squads. Although as Turner alluded to above, neither club is simply driven by top-end talent leading the way with a clear hierarchy.
Granted, the Pacers and Thunder both have stars they’ve built around in Tyrese Haliburton and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. However, both teams have surrounded those players with complementary pieces without just swinging star trades or making star free-agency signings.
For instance, Indiana brought in players such as Pascal Siakam, Aaron Nesmith and Obi Toppin in recent years by way of savvy trades. On the other side, Oklahoma City acquired Alex Caruso via trade and drafted significant players such as Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams.
Most importantly, Indiana and Oklahoma City have gelled over time, and as Turner also pointed out, the front offices of both teams have found success while dodging possible issues to come from the 2023 collective bargaining agreement.
In a time when teams are now strongly discouraged by the league’s harsher penalties for going over the luxury tax and stamped with steep fines, the emergences of both the Pacers and Thunder seem fitting. Both may be the epitome of how teams could potentially model themselves in years ahead in a time of parity in the NBA.
