Jayson Tatum doubts OKC Thunder will make 2025 NBA Finals

Posted by author September 13, 2024 NBA

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The Oklahoma City Thunder have been universally praised all offseason. They are heavy title favorites for this upcoming season. That comes with the territory fresh off a first-seed finish last year and productive roster changes.

If the Thunder lacked bulletin board material, Jayson Tatum provided some. The Boston Celtics superstar notably left OKC off his 2025 NBA Finals prediction. The 26-year-old predicted on Jimmy Fallon’s show it’ll be a rematch from this past June.

“It’s going to be a rematch,” Tatum said. “We’re going to play Dallas again.”

In Tatum’s defense, he mulled over the prediction. There was no correct way to answer the question without upsetting 14 other fanbases. He’d of course answer the Celtics as the East representative. The reigning NBA champions dominated all of last season and hope to repeat their success with the same roster this upcoming year. But he took some time to answer the West’s representative.

The Thunder were a viable option but Tatum stuck with the Dallas Mavericks, who Boston gentlemen swept in the 2024 NBA Finals. If a rematch occurs, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving will likely need to square off against a hungry OKC squad that will seek revenge for its close second-round series exit last year.

A 2025 NBA Finals matchup between the Thunder and Celtics would feature several marquee matchups. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams hoping to capture their first championship together against the veteran squad of Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis is a money-printing machine.