Repeating a championship victory is difficult for any pro sports team, but NBA teams in the past half-decade are finding the feat especially elusive.
In the past six seasons, six different NBA teams have won the NBA Finals. I noted the upside of this trend in a column last year, but the league is now halfway through the 2020’s without an established dynasty to call the decade’s own. Beyond the historical significance of record-breaking teams, the draw of having clear villains and/or favorites year after year makes for a compelling product for both diehards and casual fans. Just look at the enduring appeal and legacy of the Lakers-Celtics clashes in the 1980s, the Bulls’ three-peats in the 1990s, the Spurs’ and Lakers’ title runs in the 2000s and the sharpshooting Warriors in the 2010s.
The absence of dynasties isn’t for a lack of talent — generational players in Kawhi Leonard, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Jayson Tatum each have a title to his name in that span — or a lack of attempts at building super teams. The Nets and Suns traded for Kevin Durant expecting to blow the league away and failed to reach their respective conference finals. The Kawhi Leonard-Paul George experiment in Los Angeles and retoolings of the Philadelphia 76ers also fell flat, while Milwaukee’s attempts to build on its championship run by trading for point guard Damian Lillard hasn’t produced a playoff series win.
If any teams are built to reverse this trend, it’s the two that seem to be on a collision course for this year’s NBA Finals: the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder. In a top-heavy NBA playoff bracket, the possibility of one of these teams making progress toward becoming a dynasty is one of the tournament’s most compelling storylines.
The Celtics already have a head start on their dynasty claim as the reigning NBA champions and also made the Finals in 2022. Though Boston is the second seed in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics have the star power, depth and experience to stack up favorably with any Eastern Conference contender, including the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. Boston won 60 regular season games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2008-09, and the Celtics finished the regular season ranking in the top three in scoring differential (positive 9.1), points allowed (107.2) and three-pointers made (17.8 treys per game).
Oklahoma City is much more of a projection, and a run at a dynasty would first require them to capture its state’s first NBA championship. But the Thunder is fielding a lineup that is outperforming even the Kevin Durant-Russell Westbrook-James Harden team from the early 2010s and led the NBA in regular-season wins by a four-win margin. Guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the league’s front-runner for MVP, and the Thunder’s treasure trove of draft picks and decision-making successes seems to position the Thunder for a decade of dominance.
If the Celtics run the table and go back-to-back, a third title — a prerequisite for the dynasty label — will be within their sights. If the Thunder’s youth movement is too much for the rest of the league to handle, OKC will be at the pinnacle of the NBA, quite possibly with its best basketball still ahead of the franchise.
Both teams are also poised to avoid the pitfalls that have plagued past NBA champions and runners-up. The Bucks and Nuggets have already fired the head coaches that brought them to the promised land and have struggled to build around their superstar big men, while the Lakers’ and Warriors’ rosters required overhauls around LeBron James and Steph Curry, respectively, to reshape the franchises as title contenders. Boston and Oklahoma City have been playing the long game for years, from protecting their assets and young players in trade opportunities to prioritizing stability over blockbuster trades, and the end-result is two franchises who have a long runway for winning championships with their current core.
In these teams’ attempts to establish dynasties, the greatest threats to the Celtics and Thunder are injuries, up-and-coming teams with room for internal growth like the Rockets, Magic and Spurs, and, of course, each other. But looking at the 2025 playoffs alone, the list of viable challengers and roadblocks is less daunting.
The Cavaliers loom in the Eastern Conference as the most likely team to step in the way of a Celtics-Thunder matchup in the NBA Finals. With a top scorer in Donovan Mitchell, another top-20 NBA player in Evan Mobley and a more-than-capable floor general in Darius Garland, the Cavs aced the regular season and boast the league’s highest scoring average and second-highest point differential. Cleveland won two of its four regular-season matchups against Boston in the regular season, but a potential postseason matchup would provide a terrific opportunity for Mitchell and his teammates to parlay their regular-season jump into playoff legitimacy.
Identifying the Thunder’s toughest competition is a trickier task. The Nuggets fired head coach Michael Malone right before the playoffs started and have struggled to support Jokic consistently. The Rockets are the second seed and the surprise of the Western Conference but are unproven in the playoffs, whereas the Clippers have a very proven but injury-prone superstar leading the way in Kawhi Leonard. The Warriors and Timberwolves have a history of deep playoff runs that they could draw upon if they can spring a first-round upset, but neither are the greatest threat to the Thunder.
Entering the playoffs, the Thunder’s greatest roadblock figures to be the Los Angeles Lakers. Los Angeles is led by two offensive dynamos in LeBron James and Luka Doncic, and the Lakers have found their stride with a 22-13 record since their trade for Doncic in early February. The Lakers earned a split in a two-game series in Oklahoma City in April, running away with a 126-99 win on April 6 in which Doncic led all scorers with 30 points. The loss of Anthony Davis in the Doncic trade removed a star with playoff experience and defensive prowess from the lineup, but Doncic has plenty of playoff experience of his own — he is the reigning Western Conference champion, after all — and the Lakers’ defense still ranked in the league’s top 10 in points allowed per game and opponent field-goal percentage.
As long as the Celtics and Thunder can clear those two foes and the rest of the field, NBA fans will be in for a treat (even outside of the Boston and Oklahoma City markets). Boston’s standing as the defending NBA champions and one of the league’s most prestigious franchises makes the Celtics a natural match for the sport’s biggest stage. The Thunder are the definition of an up-and-coming challenger and have made its present state as brilliant as its tantalizing future. Jayson Tatum against Gilgeous-Alexander is a Finals-worthy bout of MVP candidates, but each team is a matchup nightmare beyond its superstar (and even its starting lineup).
Every decade needs an NBA dynasty. Don’t be surprised if the dynasty of this decade is one of these two teams.
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