The Thunder have completed their journey from tanking to a title.

Nine years after Kevin Durant left the franchise and six after the team kickstarted a rebuild by trading Paul George, the Thunder won the NBA Finals on Sunday night, defeating the Pacers 103-91 in Game 7. The Thunder pulled away in the third quarter after the Pacers lost star guard Tyrese Haliburton to an Achilles injury in the first quarter. 

The championship is the organization’s first since moving to Oklahoma City from Seattle in 2008. Previously, the Seattle Supersonics won the NBA title in 1979.

Now the Thunder have to answer the next question everyone is associating with them. Can they break the NBA’s trend of title parity and become the league’s next dynasty? Seven different franchises have won the last seven titles, but few have had the opportunity the Thunder do.

GM Sam Presti built the roster by trading George for a package highlighted by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander while drafting Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams to form a young nucleus. To fill in the gaps, he signed high-level role players in free agency. He got the roster there by avoiding star chasing and showing patience with a young coach and team.

The Thunder are set to return their entire rotation next season, headlined by Gilgeous-Alexander, the league’s MVP and Finals MVP, the first player in 25 years to take home both honors. The Thunder ranked 24th in team salary this season at $165 million—well below the luxury tax—and don’t face the financial reckoning that other contenders like the Celtics, Cavaliers, and Nuggets will have to address this summer.

Youth Rules in OKC

And the Thunder don’t just have continuity working in their favor. They have youth. OKC boasts the league’s fourth-youngest roster with an average age of 24.7, according to Elias, making them the NBA’s second-youngest champion, trailing only the 1977 Trail Blazers (24.2), who were led by 24-year-old Bill Walton.

The 2015 Warriors won their first title at an average age of just over 26, and went on to win three more titles with that core. Can the Thunder do something similar in an era where the collective bargaining agreement is designed to punish high spenders?

Pay Now, Win Later?

This summer will be the first indicator of the Thunder’s future, as Holmgren and Williams are eligible for their first contract extensions. They’re eligible for the same deal, which would pay $42.5 million in the 2026–27 season, but could increase by $9 million if either is named All-NBA next season.

Gilgeous-Alexander is eligible for a four-year, $293 million extension that could increase to $380 million over five years if he waits a year. He fired his agent months ago in preparation for either deal.

NBA teams tend to imitate the title winner, though it will be difficult to replicate Presti’s record in trades and the draft. Durant was traded to the Rockets on Sunday, which could be the first in a flurry of star players being dealt this summer, and impatient owners aren’t always up for a rebuild. Tanking teams weren’t rewarded in the lottery this year, either. But the Thunder have shown there is a narrow path to walk from the bottom of the league to the top.

The NBA landscape flipped on its head just hours away from the first NBA Finals Game 7 in a decade.

The Suns traded 15-time All-Star Kevin Durant to the Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in the 2025 draft, and five second-round picks, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The No. 10 pick the Suns acquired in the trade was originally Phoenix’s pick, which they traded to the Nets in exchange for Durant. Houston acquired the pick via a swap in a trade with Brooklyn last year.

There had been growing speculation for weeks that Durant, who will turn 37 before the start of next season, would be traded after Phoenix finished last season with a 36–46 record and missed the playoffs. 

According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the trade will not be finalized until July 6 due to a restriction in Green’s rookie extension.

Rockets Go All-In

Houston was one of the surprise young teams this past season. The Rockets claimed the No. 2 seed in the West despite finishing in the bottom third of the league in age of its players by minutes played, according to NBAage.com. Only nine other teams—including the Thunder at 25.1—had a younger average age than the Rockets (25.2 years) in that category. 

But the Rockets were upset in seven games in the first round of the playoffs by the veteran-laden Warriors (who had an average age of 29.1 for comparison). The team’s youth showed, particularly in their late-game offense, and the team will likely look at Durant, the No. 7 all-time leading scorer, to plug that hole.

It is important to note that Durant has just one year, $54.7 million remaining on this contract. However, Charania reported last week that Houston was one of Durant’s top trade destinations (along with San Antonio and Miami), making it more likely that the two-time Finals MVP could agree to a long-term extension with the Rockets.

Houston also kept two of its key young pieces in the deal: All-Star center Alperen Şengün, who turns 23 next month, and 22-year-old Amen Thompson. 

The Rockets are projected to just miss the second-apron threshold of $207.8 million with $205 million in salary next year, according to Marks.

Suns Pivot Again

The trade signifies the end of the Phoenix’s Durant experiment after just two and a half years. The Suns are now starting again with 28-year-old Devin Booker as their centerpiece, giving him a younger running mate in Green, whose three-year, $105.3 million contract starts next season.

Phoenix has limited options in retooling its roster due to trading most of its draft capital in separate deals back in 2023 to acquire Durant and Bradley Beal. They were also a second-apron violator this year and are projected to stay in the second apron next year. Beal’s contract, which has two years and $110.8 million remaining, is one of the biggest anchors on the team’s flexibility because it includes a no-trade clause.

Green could’ve been a piece the Suns could use to acquire more assets, especially since the guard plays the same position as Booker and Beal. But Phoenix will reportedly keep Green, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

The Suns will enter next season with their fourth head coach in four seasons after hiring Jordan Ott earlier this month.

With the WNBA All-Star Game less than a month away, the league’s players have prepared a statement to ensure there is a spotlight on the CBA negotiations.

Indiana Fever players Sophie Cunningham and Sydney Colson chose to read prepared statements during their respective media availabilities ahead of a Sunday afternoon game against the Las Vegas Aces.

“On behalf of my teammates and every member of our union, I want to be very clear that we remain committed to negotiating the next CBA with the league and the teams in good faith and privately. But we do want to set the record straight … This is a defining moment in the WNBA. As the league grows, it’s time for the CBA that reflects our true value. We are fighting for a fair share of business that we built,” Cunningham said, in part, in a video shared by Willie Ramirez.

Colson, who made her return to Las Vegas after four total years over two stints, went slightly off script but made a similar point as Cunningham. “We believe that it is imperative that our CBA reflects the growth that we’ve experienced in the league and that players should be seeing part of those earnings,” Colson told Callie Fin of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

A source told Front Office Sports that the statements were made after player leadership met and identified that the union wanted to create significant headway in negotiations ahead of the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game on July 19 in Indianapolis. 

“They want to see significant progress by [All-Star], and they want not just a fair deal but a transformational deal negotiated on time,” the source said. 

In response to the statements from the Fever players, a WNBA spokesperson told FOS: “The WNBA continues to meet regularly with the Women’s National Basketball Players Association and engage in constructive dialogue as part of our ongoing collective bargaining discussions.”

Revenue Up, Salaries Next?

The minimum salary for WNBA players this season is $66,079 per Spotrac, while the highest-paid players take home about $250,000 annually. That number could rise exponentially as the WNBA agreed to a record 11-year, $2.2 billion media-rights deal—about $200 million per year, more than triple its previous deal. The agreement was looped into the broader $77 billion media deal by the NBA with ESPN, NBCUniversal, and Amazon.

However, the exact boost in salaries will depend on the next CBA. Last October, the union opted out of the league’s current CBA, and the clock is ticking on whether the sides can agree before next season.

“I’m very optimistic that we’ll get something done and it’ll be transformational,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in April.

Union Locked Out

Earlier this month, the WNBA announced an extension of its media deal with Scripps Sports to broadcast games on Ion. While the financial details were not revealed, ESPN reported last year that additional media deals could push the WNBA’s final number to $3 billion.

Front Office Sports reported that the WNBPA was not included in the negotiations between the WNBA and Scripps Sports despite previously receiving support from commissioner Cathy Engelbert about the union’s presence in media negotiations.

“We want to be a part of [negotiations] as much as we can and just be brought in and brought up to speed,” Breanna Stewart, WNBPA vice president, told FOS last week after the New York Liberty’s loss to the Fever. “Even if we’re just there as a fly on the wall, we want to know the negotiations happening behind closed doors.”