Times, they are a changin': Thunder vs. Pacers Finals highlights generational change sweeping NBA
OKLAHOMA CITY — Neither Oklahoma City nor Indiana played on Christmas Day.
The prime-time Christmas Day slot was given to soon-to-be 40-year-old LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, facing off against the soon-to-be 37-year-old Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, the league's older and more established brands. Over the course of one of the NBA's biggest showcase days, other over-30 stars such as Joel Embiid, Paul George and Kevin Durant were in the spotlight.
Spots in the NBA's brightest playoff spotlight are earned, not given. All of those veteran stars are on vacation and these NBA Finals — and the 2025 playoffs in general — have highlighted a wave of generational change that has washed across the league.
The faces of the league are changing, and they are much younger.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the MVP and his Oklahoma City Thunder — the youngest team in the NBA this season, with Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams still on their rookie deals — are the team to beat. Tyrese Haliburton just turned 25, which is the average age for the Pacers this season.
For the NBA — and its broadcast and marketing partners — this is something that should be embraced and celebrated. These NBA Finals are not about market size and ratings, it's about the stars of the next generation rising up and taking their place, all while playing high-level, entertaining basketball.
'I understand that there would be concern for how many people would watch because they're smaller markets,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said of the pearl clutching by some around these NBA Finals. 'But if we're celebrating the game and we're putting game above all, which is one of the things that Adam Silver said when he became commissioner, then it really shouldn't matter. It really shouldn't matter.'
Embracing a new generation
It's not just SGA and Hali.
LeBron and Curry were eliminated from the playoffs by 23-year-old Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Out West, Edwards will be challenged in the coming years by 21-year-old Victor Wembanyama and his Spurs, and more immediately by 22-year-olds Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun with the Houston Rockets.
This shift started last season when then 25-year-old Luka Doncic led Dallas to the NBA Finals but fell to then 26-year-old Jayson Tatum and the Celtics. The change just didn't feel as sweeping because we had seen those young stars on the biggest stages for a few years, and because those teams played a more traditional style.
These playoffs have felt different, and a large part of that is due to changes in roster construction and the way the Thunder and Pacers play.
Oklahoma City and Indiana are not heliocentric teams built around their stars pounding the ball into the ground and simply hunting mismatches; these are teams where Haliburton and Gilgeous-Alexander are conductors of offenses where everyone eats. These teams are more balanced, more egalitarian.
That is the direction the NBA is headed, especially in an era where the tax aprons are flattening out the talent base. We have seen it coming in Denver, where Nikola Jokić is the center of everything, but it works because of his incredible passing skills, which lift up Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr., among many other role players. It's a balanced attack built around their star.
The NBA's latest CBA and its incredibly punishing second tax apron means the era of simply stockpiling stars is over (just ask Phoenix). Teams will have to be built more like Indiana, where they have an All-NBA star in Haliburton, but GM Kevin Pritchard built a roster of role players around him who are a hand-in-glove fit with the style of play that works best for said star.
'Things are changing. The roster construction seems to be evolving in a slightly different direction, if not a pretty significantly different direction,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said on the eve of the NBA Finals. 'There are always going to be stars. Identifying with teams may become more of a significant thing than just the star aspect of it.'
Players thrive in new style
Talk to the players in the NBA Finals, and to a man they say enjoying a modern style of play matters far more to them than the discussion around market size and ratings that seem to dominate some corners of the NBA conversation. These players have embraced playing in Oklahoma City and Indianapolis.
'I always compare it to, like, a small local high school football team being really good, and the city around them kind of gathers around them,' the Thunder's Jalen Williams said. 'That's how Oklahoma is. But it's with that with the whole state. Everywhere we go, I've been met with love since I've been out here. It's a really cool experience.'
'I definitely think it's good for the NBA,' OKC's Aaron Wiggins said of the smaller markets in the NBA Finals. 'Kind of shows that you can build regardless of where you are from within. Obviously, both of our teams didn't necessarily get superstars in the offseason or anything. Kind of drafted and built within. You find pieces that fit in the offseason.
'It just kind of goes to show with the right personnel, with trust, the right development, you can get anywhere you want to get. We're two teams that are kind of proving that this year.'
And they are two teams proving that a new generation of stars has taken over the NBA — and that's a good thing.
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