With the NBA playoffs starting to heat up, what better time than now to start dreaming of the high-stakes, high-level NBA Finals matchups we could be treated to in less than two months.
In terms of individual legacies, this postseason certainly feels like one of the most meaningful in NBA history. A fifth ring for Lebron James and a second in Los Angeles would make the Michael Jordan conversations even more contentious.
A fifth ring for Stephen Curry in Golden State would complicate the GOAT debate even more by adding a rightful third party to the mix and causing some uncomfortable conversations to be had. Especially because Curry would have done it with four entirely different iterations of a franchise.
The way the oddsmakers see it, neither Steph nor Lebron will be adding another Larry O’ to their collection. The Oklahoma City Thunder (-170) and the Boston Celtics (-150) are each decisive favorites to win the Western and Eastern conferences, respectively. Vegas is currently listing Oklahoma City at +165 odds to win the NBA title, while Boston is sitting at +190.
You also have to include the 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers as legitimate title contenders. The Cavs were just two wins shy of their all-time regular season wins record (66, 2008-09) and they’ve been a nightmare for opposing teams all season long. A ring for Donovan Mitchell, especially for a historically lost franchise like Cleveland, would solidify him as a legendary NBA playoff performer. It would also mean that Lebron would no longer be Cleveland’s only basketball superhero, something that could end up having more historical bearing than most realize.
With all that being said, let’s dive into the 5 most meaningful potential NBA Finals matchups that we could see in June.
1. Warriors vs. Cavaliers
A rekindling of a classic rivalry, this time in a completely different form. If Curry were to lead the No. 7 seed Warriors on a 2023 Miami Heat-esque run from the play-in to the NBA Finals, it would already be a massive accomplishment. If he were to beat the 64-win, No. 1 seed Cavaliers and win a second NBA Finals MVP, it would arguably go down as one of the greatest individual championship efforts of all time.
A fifth ring for Curry would force his name into conversations many people would have never thought he belonged in. It would push his NBA Finals record to 5-2 and make him the definitive champion of his professional era, one that is almost unanimously touted for the quality of stars across the league.
Jimmy Butler would also earn his first ring in this scenario. Butler has spent less than half the season in Golden State but his acquisition was the team’s single turning point in the season. A ring for Butler, even in this scenario, would solidify a Hall of Fame professional career.
On Cleveland’s end, it would give the city just its second championship in any professional sport since 1948. It would also solidify the Cavaliers as a top-tier NBA franchise, one that will have won NBA championships within a decade with two rosters that don’t share a single player. The perception of the franchise would certainly be a far cry from where it was when LeBron James initially made “The Decision” in 2010.
Lastly, it would give the Cavaliers franchise and the City of Cleveland the perfect dish of revenge over Curry and a Golden State organization that handed them back-to-back demoralizing NBA Finals losses in 2017 and 2018 with the help of mercenary Kevin Durant.
2. Lakers vs. Celtics
This scenario would give us the 13th NBA Finals meeting between the Lakers and Celtics. The two teams most recently met in the 2010 NBA Finals, where Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to a come-from-behind Game 7 victory to secure the franchise’s 16th championship.
If the Lakers were to win this title, it would officially make the Luka Doncic trade the most successful midseason player acquisition in NBA history. It would give the Slovenian icon his first NBA championship ring and almost guarantee his place in the Basketball Hall of Fame at just 25 years old, given his already stellar international career and five first-team All-NBA selections to this point. It would solidify Doncic as the biggest star in basketball, on and off the court, and it would also cement his place in basketball’s most historic rivalry forever.
A Lakers title would give Lebron his fifth NBA championship ring too, but it would also mean that LeBron would have won NBA Championships (and potentially Finals MVPs) 13 seasons apart. That would be pretty legendary for a guy who was at one point the subject of Carmelo Anthony-esque ringless criticism nearly a decade into his career, but you’d only remember that if you were on Facebook or Twitter in 2011.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won his first and last NBA titles 17 seasons apart, though his 1988 title came in his 19th NBA season. Lebron’s hypothetical 2025 title would be in his 22nd NBA season. I doubt it would do much to change the perception of the Jordan debate among the masses, I’m not sure anything will at this point, given how entrenched both sides are in defending their selected GOAT.
3. Thunder vs. Cavaliers
This scenario would give us one of the highest-quality NBA Finals matchups we’ve ever seen. It would be just the fifth time in NBA history that two 60+ win teams met in the NBA Finals. The three most recent matchups of this caliber each included Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, while the first was a memorable battle between the Celtics and Lakers in 1985.
An Oklahoma City Thunder win would cement the franchise as a rising dynasty in the NBA, giving them their first NBA title while still owning what seems like half the league’s future draft capital. With 68 regular-season wins, a championship would also put this Thunder team among three of the greatest teams in the history of the sport. Only the 1995-96 and 1996-97 Chicago Bulls, along with the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers, have won more regular-season games and won the NBA Finals.
A title would cement Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the premier player in the NBA, especially if he were to win the MVP. The combination of an MVP and Larry O would also solidify him as the greatest Canadian basketball player in history over Steve Nash, a distinction I’m not making lightly. Chet Holmgren would also earn his first ring at 22 years old in this scenario, setting the stage for a potentially Hall of Fame worthy list of accomplishments for the 7’1 Gonzaga product.
If the Cavaliers slayed the 68-win Thunder, Mitchell would be placed in the pantheon of all-time great NBA Playoff performers. It would also mean the Cavaliers franchise would have defeated two historically great teams to win both of their NBA championships within the last decade, after going ringless for the first 46 years of their existence. In fact, it would mean they sent two of the five best regular-season teams in NBA history to the record books without a title to their name.
4. Nuggets vs. Celtics
If Nikola Jokic led the Denver Nuggets to a second NBA Championship in three seasons after also winning three out of the last five (and maybe four out of the last six) MVP awards, Jokic would officially be cemented alongside Abdul-Jabbar as the most accomplished big man in NBA history.
You can argue that Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal would have run Jokic up and down the floor in their primes, but you can’t argue with two rings and what could potentially be four MVPs after this season’s award is announced. Jokic wouldn’t just be the defining player of the 2020s, he will have accumulated one of the greatest five-season resumes in the history of professional sports.
Beating this legendary, yes, legendary Boston Celtics team in the NBA Finals would immortalize Jokic. He wouldn’t merely be a Hall of Famer, he would be inching toward the pantheon of the greatest basketball players to ever live and he’d have a much better seat than many of our basketball idols. It would certainly garner more respect than his win over the Heat did in 2023.
If Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were to lead the Celtics to their second consecutive NBA championship, this still young core would start flirting with some of the most accomplished in league history. Joe Mazzulla would cement his place as the best head coach in the league and better yet, one that is on a legendary trajectory.
Brad Stevens would also bolster what’s becoming a pretty convincing basketball Hall of Fame resume of his own with what would be his second NBA championship as an executive at just 48 years old after already having wildly successful stints as the head coach of the Celtics and of Butler University.
5. Clippers vs. Knicks
This scenario is the most far-fetched of the bunch, but it has historical implications that would bring storylines galore. Kawhi Leonard, despite all of his injuries, could win a third NBA title and rise into that Curry and LeBron tier of generation-defining greats. It would also likely make Kawhi the first player in NBA history to win three NBA Finals MVPs with three different franchises.
James Harden would also earn his first NBA championship ring in this scenario, completing one of the most impressive basketball resumes ever, presumably with some years still left in the league. Harden’s argument as one of the great two-guards in NBA history would also be strengthened.
For New York, you almost can’t put into words what a Knicks title would mean after 55 years. The most basketball-crazy city on the planet hasn’t reached the pinnacle of the sport in what, for many folks, is an entire lifetime. If Jalen Brunson and company deliver what New York has been long awaiting, the circumstances of that win would immortalize those Knicks players in a way we haven’t seen athletes immortalized by a city since the ‘86 Mets.
