After years of slowly and steadily rebuilding, the OKC Thunder are officially NBA Champions.
In epic fashion, Oklahoma City took care of business on their home court during Sunday's winner-takes-all Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, besting the scrappy and relentless Indiana Pacers by a final score of 103-91.
With this, the ball club has now officially solidified itself as the best team, with the best player in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and the deepest roster the league has to offer.
However, perhaps the most exciting fact of all is that, come next season and throughout the many that are to come, it seems all but certain that the Thunder are destined to get even better.
2024-25 may be worst version of Thunder fans will see for a while
While they may have just pieced together one of the most dominant campaigns the NBA has witnessed throughout its 78-year history, when considering what's in store for this Thunder club, it's reletively easy to make the case that this may be the worst version of the team fans will see for the foreseeable future.
With an average age of 25.6 years, Oklahoma City is now the second-youngest team over the last 48 years to win a championship.
As far as their key rotation is concerned, they have five staples who are under the age of 25 while their core trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren are 26, 24, and 23, respectively, meaning their prime years are still to come.
In addition, Sam Presti and company will have roughly 15 first-round draft selections along with a slew of seconds coming over the next several years as a result of their elite wheeling and dealing ways over the years, and are slated to add one of last year's top-billed prospects in Nikola Topic to their rotation in 2025-26 after being redshirted his rookie season due to injury.
Add all of this to the fact that their current cornerstones now have that experience and familiarity of dealing with the adversities that come with winning a title, and there's no question that the Thunder, as currently constructed, are in a realistic position to establish themselves as the game's next dynasty.
Already, OKC is viewed as comfortable favorites to repeat in 2025-26. These enviable odds should be expected as the norm moving forward, and the rest of the NBA should be truly terrified.