The Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers will finally tip off Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals on Thursday night at Paycom Center. It has been a long wait for both teams since the conference finals ended, though this has given the Thunder and Pacers time to rest and heal up. The Pacers-Thunder Game 1 injury report is relatively clean, though Indiana has two players on it whose status will be worth monitoring as this series goes on.
Pacers' NBA Finals Game 1 injury report
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle announced before the NBA Finals that young big man Jarace Walker would miss at least the first two games of the series with a right ankle sprain. The 21-year-old suffered the injury in the Game 6 victory over the New York Knicks.
Another member of the frontcourt, Tony Bradley, is questionable with a left hip flexor strain. Bradley suffered his injury in Game 5 against the Knicks.
The veteran center didn't play much in the first two rounds of the playoffs but was called upon to go up against Karl-Anthony Towns and Co. Bradley said Wednesday he should be good to go for Game 1, but he still has that questionable tag for now.
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The final player on the Pacers' Game 1 injury report is Isaiah Jackson, who has been out with a torn Achilles and is done for the season.
Thunder's NBA Finals Game 1 injury report
The Thunder's Game 1 injury report is totally clean outside of rookie Nikola Topic, who tore his ACL before the season even began. The 2024 lottery pick is doing some work with the team, but he obviously will not be returning for this series.
Oklahoma City has been fortunate throughout these playoffs when it comes to injuries, and the team is hoping that remains the case as the favorite in these 2025 NBA Finals.
a]:text-link [&_>a]:underline">Jason Patt is the Editorial Director at ClutchPoints. The Illinois alumnus specializes in NBA, NFL, and MLB coverage, and he has previous bylines at SB Nation, FanSided, and Forbes.