The entire offseason has been filled with rave reviews of the Oklahoma City Thunder. They are heavy title favorites for this upcoming season. That is the fate of the region following last year’s first-seed finish and successful roster revisions.
If the Thunder lacked bulletin board material, Jayson Tatum delivered some. The Boston Celtics legend conspicuously left OKC off his 2025 NBA Finals forecast. The 26-year-old claimed on Jimmy Fallon’s show it’ll be a rematch from this past June.
“It’s going to be a rematch,” Tatum remarked. “We’re going to play Dallas again.”
“It’s going to be a rematch. We’re going to play Dallas again.”
– Jayson Tatum on the 2025 Finals Matchup
(h/t @clovermars1) pic.twitter.com/SURFlPK0j4
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 12, 2024
In Tatum’s defense, he mulled over the prediction. There was no right response to the question that wouldn’t anger fourteen other fandoms. He’d of course respond the Celtics as the East representative. With the same team from last year, the reigning NBA champions are hoping to build on their dominant performance. However, responding to the Western representative required some time from him.
Even though the Thunder were a good choice, Tatum remained with the Dallas Mavericks, the team that Boston won the 2024 NBA Finals by a decisive margin. If a rematch comes, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving will likely need to square off against a hungry OKC side that will want retribution for their close second-round series elimination last year.
A 2025 NBA Finals showdown between the Thunder and Celtics would include several noteworthy matchups. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams looking to achieve their first championship together against the veteran group of Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis is a money-printing machine.
