NBA Finals 2025: Thunder, Pacers Share Identical Playoff Paths Since 2010

Akash Vaishnav

Last updated: June 2, 2025

2 min read

Indiana Pacers and OKC Thunder enter the 2025 NBA Finals following an eerily similar journey

Image Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The NBA Finals are all set to begin from the mid-week as the Indiana Pacers take on the OKC Thunder. Both teams have put up a fine display throughout the playoffs and have deservingly qualified for the fight towards the championship.

The Indiana Pacers and the OKC Thunder share striking similarities in their team structures and journey. Both have a fairly younger squad in the NBA, and both don’t rely on superstar culture. The Thunder have ridden Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s brilliance this season, while the Pacers have leaned on Tyrese Haliburton’s postseason dominance.

The parallels run deeper, as the Pacers and Thunder have followed nearly identical postseason paths since 2010. A newfound fact has emerged where both the NBA Finalists have qualified for the playoffs and missed those, the exact same years since 2010-11.

overrate that. pic.twitter.com/sg9cj25LZy
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) June 1, 2025

The Pacers and Thunder made four consecutive appearances in the NBA Playoffs from the 2010-11 season to the 2013-14 season. The duo missed qualifying for the postseason in the 2014-15 season. However, from the next season to 2020, they again equally went through the playoffs.

However, post the Covid season, OKC Thunder struggled with a rebuild and missed the next three playoffs. To top it off, the Pacers were also going through a struggling period and remained out of the playoffs picture for the next three seasons. Now, after years of parallel highs and lows, the two franchises meet in the grandest stage of all – the NBA Finals.

Low-Cost NBA Finalists

Remarkably, this year’s NBA Finals marks the first time in history that both finalists remain under the luxury tax threshold. This has happened for the first time in NBA history since the luxury tax was introduced in the 1980s.

Indiana Pacers and OKC Thunder have operated their roster without crossing the threshold. The Pacers’ payroll this season stood at $169 million, while the Thunder operated at $165 million, leaving them $5 million clear of the tax line

This shows how both the teams are more or less similar in structure and functioning. Both have built their team organically, having more belief in youth than buying ready-made superstars. It’s their discipline, both on and off the court, that has set the Pacers and Thunder to massive success this season.

Indiana Pacers

NBA Finals

OKC Thunder

Akash Vaishnav

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wnba

I cover NBA at the Playoffs. I specialize in covering breaking news, Previews, in in-depth analysis (breaking down numbers, complex stats, nuances of the game, and converting them into reader-friendly content). Furthermore, I got into the sports media while looking for an entry into the media industry. I love International Relations, and since entry without majoring in the subject was difficult, I got into sports. Now, while majoring in International Relations on one side, I also like covering sports as part of the journey as a young Journalist.