The Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers are embroiled in a so-far-entertaining 2025 NBA Finals series. As that rolls on, several people have noticed that these are not the teams you’d typically see battling it out for the highest trophy in the league. One Blazer’s Edge reader has a question about the ultimate significance of this Finals series, the subject of today’s Blazer’s Edge Mailbag.
Dave,
I’m glad to see you’re writing about the finals and more than just the Blazers sometimes. I enjoy your thoughts. Here’s the thing I’m wondering. Are we seeing a major change in eras in the NBA? You’ve said yourself that this series lacks the usual star power. OKC and Indiana are different than the traditional highlight worthy NBA teams. They’re built different and they play different and they both make the finals at once. Does this mean we’re coming into a new era where they will be the pattern?
Carl
Yes and no.
In very broad strokes, the league has gone through a couple of major era shifts during our lifetime.
The first, now seeming almost prehistoric, was the transition from the traditional basketball of the 1960’s and 1970’s to the Showtime, star-power era engineered by NBA Commissioner David Stern. That evolution set the baseline for everything we know about the league today. It’s Magic and Bird, Mike, Shaq and Kobe.
The early-2000’s brought changes in offensive rules that sped up and spread out the game. Lumbering centers and back-to-the-basket scorers—even superstar ones—were de-emphasized in favor of ball-handling point guards and the shooters who spaced the floor for them. The “pace and space” era involved getting the rock down the floor as quickly as possible, creating openings for a scorer, then letting them drive to the bucket to convert, get fouled, or kick to the corner for an open three.
The mid-to-late 2010’s and early 2020’s brought an addendum to that era, as teams figured out that three-point shots were worth more than two-pointers even if they came from the top of the floor, from the hands of those same guards who used to drive. This wasn’t a whole new evolution, rather an underlining of the “space” portion of “pace and space”.
Notice that these epochs came more or less in reaction to each other (aided by the aforementioned rule changes). The superstar era centered on one player—or a finite group of them in the “Big 3” iteration—basically static in the middle of the floor. Often these were outsized talents with veteran experience. They tended to be giants, metaphorically if not literally, colossi who would not be moved.
Teams solved that problem by turning that singular status into a liability. If your superstar doesn’t get down the floor or travel around on it, we’ll just push the ball quick enough to outrun him and move the game far enough out on the floor to expose his lack of mobility on defense. You may be able to score more reliably with one, stationary star but we can score more quickly and often with multiple shooters moving fast.
You could see this evolution in the game of James Harden, who started his career as a bulky scorer and ended up as a three-point wizard, both to devastating effect. There’s a reason so many teams coveted him over the years despite his defensive weaknesses. He was the embodiment of a superstar in both types of game. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson pushed the three-point era into overdrive, of course. That Golden State Warriors dynasty change the way we looked at the game for a decade or more, erasing the old Spurs and Lakers model as yesterday’s news.
Just as pace and space developed in response to the superstar era, a new permutation is arising to counter pace and space. It’s embodied by the Thunder and Pacers both. Its hallmark is defense. Basically teams want to field at least four defenders who can switch on any play, anywhere on the court, staying out on the perimeter while still being quick and athletic enough to get back in transition and stay in front of the drive in the halfcourt. Complete floor coverage blunts the impact of spacing, crowding shooters and making offense take longer.
But here’s the thing: teams still need to produce on offense. You can’t just throw five defenders out there and win, especially in an era where 110 points is an expected point total and scoring 120 doesn’t raise any eyebrows. So these athletic, fast defenders also need to be able to shoot and drive, at least modestly. Since not all of them will be superstars, ball movement will still matter, finding the open shot instead of just the dominant matchup. Finally, since energy is at a premium, depth—the ability to run fresh players out on the floor continually—matters more now than in any of the prior decades.
Sum this up and you end up with a bunch of versatile, 6’5-6’9 players all of whom can defend, shoot, score at least a little, pass, and run. Think Deni Avdija if you’re a Trail Blazers fan. Or just watch the Finals teams for multiple examples. This is the new model, the era we’re growing into.
There’s a catch, though. Each past era still informs the current one. The NBA doesn’t abandon trends; it adapts them. Notice that one of those Finals teams has the league MVP, a guy who can score with the ball in his hands and draw enough fouls to make the old-school version of Harden blush. The other has one of the hottest young point guards in the league, on the way to establishing himself as a superstar. Note also that last year’s champion, the Boston Celtics, were first in the league in three-point attempts and second in three-point percentage. Indiana and OKC were both Top 10 in percentage this season, though the Pacers lagged behind in overall attempts.
Even with an impending paradigm shift happening right before our eyes, fielding a star scorer still matters. Point guards still matter. Three-point shooting still matters. The era of versatility, of the three-and-everything wing, is upon us, but that doesn’t mean the entire league is changing on a dime, abandoning the old ways.
This whole thing is a process. Unsuccessful teams will remain stuck in traditional assumptions, refusing to participate. (We’re looking at you, Phoenix Suns.) Successful teams will hold onto the best parts of prior eras while evolving into the next iteration. That’s what Oklahoma City has done so well. That’ll also be the challenge for the Blazers moving forward.
Thanks for the question! You can always send yours to blazersub@gmail.com and we’ll answer as many as possible!