The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers are coming for a blazing showdown in the 2025 NBA Finals, and the two historically built teams are going to be on a massive race to the finish. However, one can easily spot that both have someone mutual to thank to their respective successes.

Paul George, who has been a franchise player for Indiana around his first nine years, has been able to lead them to the Eastern Conference Finals, and some legendary playoff runs as well. With Oklahoma City, George was phenomenal in reinventing himself after that freak leg injury and played at the best of his career. However, he did not go on to lead the Thunder past the first round in his brief stay.

However it may look for both teams, at the end of the day, it seems that both OKC and Indiana will go down to thank PG for his contributions and how he played a huge role in rebuilding the squads.

The Thunder Timeline

In July 2017, the Thunder traded Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis for George, which eventually led him to play from 2017 to 2019. George eventually appeared in two postseason campaigns with OKC, only to drop both in the first round. He was definitely in the firsthand when Damian Lillard drilled that infamous “bad shot” that sent Oklahoma City to a rebuild.

Of course, that would then lead the Thunder to come up with a flurry of overhauls, of which was known – the Paul George trade. The forward later ended up playing for the Los Angeles Clippers at the behest of Kawhi Leonard. The bigger story, however, is what OKC ended up getting for that trade.

The Thunder received a total of five first-round draft picks and two swap picks in the first round. One of those picks ended up being Jalen Williams – who became a first-time All-Star in the 2024-25 NBA season. But what ended up as a stunning piece of that trade was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who spent his rookie season with the Clippers, only to be sent to Oklahoma City.

Of course, we know all what happened with SGA. He led OKC to a 68-14 record this season, and ended up winning the season MVP award while also being the league’s scoring champion and recently the Western Conference Finals MVP.

The Pacers Timeline

The Indiana Pacers have very little to thank off Paul George as he was just a by-product of the trade. After that impressive 2017 Playoff run where the Pacers went to seven games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, George would go on to move on to Oklahoma City in exchange for Oladipo and Sabonis.

Later, after five years of less promise on the big stage, Sabonis became a two-time All-Star but was then traded to the Sacramento Kings – in exchange for Tyrese Haliburton. Sabonis would generate just a single playoff run for the Kings, and got eliminated in the first round. The Pacers, on the other hand, have just gone for back-to-back ECF runs.

Perhaps the most ironic of all these trades? George should definitely earn a ring from either team that will win the NBA Finals. As laughable as it sounds, George definitely had a hand in the building blocks and core players that eventually made these teams the contenders they are today.