Oklahoma City vs Indiana in NBA Finals

Riveting

It’s a new age with new faces and new leadership. Oklahoma City and Indianapolis are decent sized markets and it’s quite refreshing to not have LeBron, Golden State, Boston, etc. in the Finals. The NBA is respectable again with rabid fanbases.

Tyrese “HIM” Haliburton finna EAT!!!

The ratings will be putrid but the basketball will probably be really really good

Honestly it’ll be two really good teams and likely a good series. I actually love it when nba teams outside of the usual big/traditional markets do really well.

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Oklahoma City vs Indiana in NBA Finals

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Thanks for sharing. I can honestly say I haven't watched a full NBA game in well over 20 years. It started when Michael retired, and occasionally I would watch 1 or 2 partial games when Kobe's career was winding down.

Today's product truly does not compare to when Dr. J, Bird, Magic, Kareem, Hakeem, MJ, Reggie Miller, Ewing, Starks, Maxwell, etc. played.

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This is what happens with the second apron. These NBA doesn’t have many elite teams anymore. It’ll crush OKC in 2 years when they start having to sign all these guys to long term deals.

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Its something to keep an eye on. But lets refresh a bit.

In build one with KD/Russ/Harden they were young and made finals. They thought their window would last many years.

But the CBA was new and penalties were increased for lux tax so after they lost to Miami that summer they traded Harden.

Presti got the blame and as a good soldier he never deflected. Rumors at the time were the ownership group didn’t want to pay those extra taxes and contracts were coming. And rumors were out that ownership group firced Prestis hand.

Fast forward and the ownership group is changed. And Presti is a smart SOB and went scorched earth. He figured he could build a winning team before the big lux tax hit and went to work.

Now you have a title ready team in the same situation. But before they were low on draft capital. This time around Presti has not only built a winning team he has so many draft and player assets he can do about anything he wants. He even has last years #12 draft pick sitting out injured all this season who by all accounts looks great.

If they need to stay under lux tax he has so many moves he can make. In addition, he sat down with SGA when he arrived and discussed his long range plans how he was going to build a title team around him. And SGA has been nothing but excited to stay and play here.

SGA will get a super max, but he could take a discount. They will never ask him to, he will get what he wants. But rumors are he might take less, he wants to be the best ever and knows he’ll need to give up a bit to keep team viable.

I have no idea if he will, but if we win a title he might do it as that main objective will be achieved. Then he will look at being great long term and might give team a discount.

The city is paying for a majority of an over $1B stadium which just started work and will be ready for 28 season. So owners gain value in adding that, plus the team valuation has increased since purchase.

$3.65B team value
Calculated October 2024

In 2015 the value was $950M

They bought team for around $350M

So its possible the newer owner group (main owner is same as when purchased) will be willing to pay lux tax because the city is paying for all but $50M of new stadium. And that stadium will increase the value of their team owner shares by more than the extra tax.

As long as Presti is here they’ll be fine. I think owners learned from last star team you have to pay to win and keep winning. And its rare a team is able to rebuild so fast like Presti did. Its very likely the owners want to keep winning at least thru when the new stadium is opened.

Who gives a shite what NBA executives want? They gonna make money, gonna be a great series.

And the Thunder Rolls

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We’re positioned better than any other team in the league to deal with it. People already wanting to break up this OKC team because they’re too good.

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No you’re not. Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams only have one more year on their rookie deals. The full force of the second apron will crush OKC after next season. You’ll see it this offseason when Chet and Williams are signed to massive contract extensions.

Next season will be the last of the Thunder as they’re currently constructed.

Then you have Shai with only two more seasons left on his deal before he signs a max that’ll more than double his current salary.

It won’t be possible to keep much talent around Shai, Chet, and Jalen Williams when they are all on new contracts.

This team has one more year together and then it’ll be massive change.