While there is much chatter about the 2025 NBA Finals featuring two small-market teams, savvy NBA fans certainly will be tuned in to see Game 1 on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET. This is a compelling matchup of two excellent transition teams that should produce some exciting end-to-end action.

The championship series will be a showdown between the league’s best team and the hottest team in the playoffs right now. No one is surprised that the Thunder have reached the finals after its best regular season in franchise history, and they predictably navigated through the Western Conference playoffs.

Indiana, however, won 12 of 16 games in the Eastern Conference playoffs and is making its first NBA Finals appearance in 25 years and second overall. Neither the Thunder nor Pacers have ever won an NBA Championship.

Don’t anger people in the Pacific Northwest by mentioning the Supersonics’ one championship as some sort of technicality.

The players in the spotlight will be NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Indiana’s model of a true point guard, Tyrese Haliburton. Anyone saying that this series is missing a superstar has not watched “SGA” operate all season.

Limiting his heroics will be the main defensive focus for the Pacers. But can they actually hold the best offensive player in the league down?

Best Thunder vs. Pacers player prop picks

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Over 7.5 assists

Best odds: +114 on DraftKings ($10 bet wins $11.40)

Much as they did with Jalen Brunson in the Eastern Conference Finals, Indiana will attempt to harass SGA with rotating defenders and full-court pressure. But Gilgeous-Alexander will effectively make the Pacers pay more than the Knicks did for heavily concentrating on the main scorer.

The Thunder go deeper than New York did and will come at Indiana in waves. Gilgeous-Alexander will certainly get his points, yet the Pacers’ defense will be dealing with a much more offensive consistent attack in this series.

SGA notched eight-plus assists in four of five Western Conference Finals games vs. Minnesota. In each of the two regular-season meetings vs. the Pacers, Gilgeous-Alexander finished with eight assists. Brunson registered two seven-plus assist games in the Eastern Conference Finals, and you should expect SGA to be a more frequent source of production in that category vs. Indiana.

Pascal Siakam Over 19.5 points

Best odds: -112 on FanDuel ($10 bet wins $8.93)

The OKC defense will present a stiffer test for the Pacers overall, but the one matchup where Indiana has a path to an advantage is through Siakam. As noted by The Athletic, the Thunder lack a true power forward to ideally handle the Eastern Conference Finals MVP. Oklahoma City might have to try and experiment on him with multiple defenders before settling on the best one-on-one option.

The moment will certainly not be too big for Siakam, and his teammates can look to him as a leader. He did win the 2019 NBA Championship with Toronto. OKC’s defense is elite, but at least early in the series, it might take it some time to effectively limit Siakam.

A big key for the Thunder will be to cap the all-around effectiveness of Haliburton, and someone else besides him will have to step forward to keep Indiana in the game. That will be Siakam, who averaged 24.8 points per game in the Eastern Finals.

Isaiah Hartenstein Over 7.5 Rebounds

Best odds: +110 at BetMGM ($10 bet wins $11.00)

Hartenstein likely got on the phone or started texting with former teammate Mitchell Robinson after watching him regularly get the edge against the Pacers on the boards in the Eastern Finals vs. Indiana, especially on the offensive side.

Not only are the Thunder going to be a bigger test for the Pacers with their ability to keep up in transition and because OKC is a top-notch defensive team, but Indiana will also be consistently outrebounded. That has been one disadvantage Indiana has been able to overcome throughout the postseason so far.

In the playoffs so far, Hartenstein has averaged 7.9 rebounds per game. In the conference semifinals, he collected seven-plus rebounds in six of seven games. Myles Turner averaged only 3.2 rebounds per game in the Eastern Finals.