Oklahoma City crowned 2025 NBA champions: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander makes history
The Oklahoma City Thunder wrote one of the most memorable chapters in NBA history by defeating the Indiana Pacers 103-91 in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. This victory marks the franchise’s first title since relocating to Oklahoma in 2008, capping off an exceptional 68-win regular season. Ousmane Dieng, who checked in with 32.4 seconds remaining, becomes the seventh French player to win an NBA championship.
A historic achievement for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander completed a remarkable individual season by winning Finals MVP after finishing the decisive Game 7 with 29 points and 12 assists. At just 26 years old, the Canadian point guard joins an ultra-exclusive circle by achieving the regular season MVP, scoring title, and NBA championship triple in the same year.
« It’s hard to believe I’m part of such a group. It’s even hard to imagine that I’m a player of this caliber, » he said in the press conference. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, and Shaquille O’Neal had achieved this feat before him, with Jordan accomplishing it four times.
With an average of 32.7 points per game in the regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander now holds the record for the highest scoring average by a championship player, surpassing Jordan’s record set in 1992-93 by one-tenth of a point.
A historic finals for both franchises
This series ended with the 20th Game 7 in NBA Finals history, the first since 2016. The Pacers, the East’s fourth seed, surprised everyone by reaching their first Finals since 2000 but failed to secure their first NBA title. It should be noted that they lost their point guard Tyrese Haliburton to a serious Achilles tendon injury early in the game.
— Gonzalo Vázquez (@GVazquezNY) June 23, 2025
The 18-win regular season gap between the two teams would have constituted the biggest upset in Finals history in terms of record. Despite 10 wins as underdogs during these playoffs – tying a 35-year record – Indiana fell to a Thunder team that now boasts a combined regular season/playoffs record of 84-21.
The Thunder becomes the second-youngest team to win a title in the shot clock era, with a weighted average age of 25.6 years. This victory potentially opens a window of dominance for a team built around rising talents like Jalen Williams (24) and Chet Holmgren (23), alongside Gilgeous-Alexander who is just entering his prime.
Commentaires