The NBA Finals are here, and the Oklahoma City Thunder will face the 2025 NBA champion Indiana Pacers.

Oklahoma City beat the Minnesota Timberwolves and Indiana beat the New York Knicks, which also means that 14 playoff teams have been sent home in the summer, and over the past few weeks, we've seen a variety of star performances.

So, this is the third time in these playoffs, and it’s our latest observation of the highest performance of the season as we ranked the top eight players in the first three rounds before the Oklahoma City Championship game kicked off on Thursday (8:30 ET, 8:30 PM ET).

Previous ranking: Round 1 | Round 2

2025 playoff data (16 games): 29.8 points | 6.9 ast | 5.7 reb | 1.6 Stl

Thunder has been the best team in the NBA all season, and Gilgeous-Alexander was awarded the league's regular season MVP a few weeks ago. He is also ranked first in these playoff rankings now, after 31.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 8.2 assists in the five Timberwolves games in OKC.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored at least 30 points in his 16 games this season, reaching that milestone in all four wins in the Western Conference Finals. If the beloved Thunder continues to win the NBA championship, it will be hard to see Gilgeous-Alexander join the finals in his statistics with Larry O'Brien this season.

Previous Ranking: 4

2025 playoff data (16 games): 18.8 points | 9.8 ast | 5.7 reb | 1.4 STL

Gilgeous-Alexander and Haliburton's upcoming game are the best point guard matchup in the NBA Finals since the legendary showdown between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2015 to 2018.

And if Indiana intends to beat this frustration, it will require Haliburton to get more incredible games in the final against the Knicks. He scored a comfortable victory with 32 points, 15 assists and turnovers, which gave Indiana a 3-1 lead.

The last stat - turnover - will be one of the key battlefields in this series. Oklahoma City’s defense is the best defense in the best league this season, and he is good at turning teams. Haliburton, on the other hand, is avoid NBA turnover.

Previous Ranking: 5

2025 playoff data (18 games): 29.4 points | 7.0 ast | 3.4 reb

While Brunson’s defense is a problem with New York’s loss to Indiana (his sixth disappointing to end the Knicks’ season), it is undeniable that his importance in leading the team in the best season of the quarter-century is undeniable. Brunson is the NBA clutch player of the year this season, averaging 30.7 points per game and shooting more than 50% from the field against the Pacers. His overall performance is seen as a disappointment, which shows the rise in his position as a player.

Brunson's first three seasons in New York have put him in the top five careers in Knicks series history, and there's a pretty good argument, with just three players - All Hall of Fame - front of him - Willis Reed, Patrick Ewing and Walt Frazier. That's not bad for the previous second-round pick, with New York signing unrestricted free agents.

Previous ranking: 1

2025 playoff data (16 games): 21.1 pts | 5.8 reb | 3.3 ast | 46.3 3p%

Eastern Conference Finals MVP Siakam has 30 points in six games against the Knicks and averaged 24.8 points throughout the series since arriving in Indiana 18 months ago, and has been awesome since Indiana arrived in Indiana, driving the team to the finals of the game for the first time last year and now is the first time since 2000 to return to the NBA Finals.

The symbiotic role between Haliburton and Siakam has played a major role in the Pacers, becoming a high-power offensive machine for the past few seasons, especially in both playoffs. However, matching the Thunder’s efforts will be Indiana’s biggest challenge to date.

Previous Ranking: NR

2025 playoff statistics (14 games): 26.2 pts | 12.7 reb | 8.0 ast | 2.0 STL

Despite Denver's defeat in the second round of playoffs, was it surprising to see Jokic here? Well, let's remind you that the Nuggets had thundered on the ropes in Game 5 of the game's semi-finals when they led eight-pointers in Oklahoma City's three-thirds and looked to be eliminating OKC for the second straight year.

But while that didn’t happen this time, Jokic’s talent forced the Thunder to get out of the way, which could easily be the closest any team to a championship to beat Oklahoma City. Add to Jokic's always ridiculous statistics, even though he's been at home for weeks, he's still high on this list.

Previous Ranking: 2

2025 playoff data (16 games): 20.4 pts | 5.8 reb | 5.3 ast | 1.6 Stl

Williams struggled with much of the second round of the Oklahoma City defeating Denver, but he is back, with a great Western Conference Finals shooting less than 50% and a 46.2% average of 22.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.0 steals.

As far as its competitive championship is concerned, one of the biggest questions about Oklahoma City is whether Williams can reliably become a secondary scorer for champion-level team Gilgeous-Alexander. Although it was sometimes a fight in these playoffs, he showed up in Game 4 of the Minnesota Series — he scored 34 points in his best game of his career to help the Thunder lead the 3-1 series — he is in line with the OKC’s championship window.

Previous Ranking: NR

2025 playoff statistics (15 games): 25.3 points | 7.8 reb | 5.5 ast

Oklahoma City showed proper fear of Edwards for the entire Western Conference Finals, sending him a bunch of defenders to force his teammates to pass them to his teammates and get them to beat Thunder. As a result, Edwards scored under 20 points in three of the five games of the series. This only happened once in two rounds of the playoffs.

Still, Edwards led the Timberwolves to win the conference finals in a back-to-back season after only one series win in the series was an impressive achievement. The question now is what Edwards and Wolves will need to catch (and surpass) the Thunder, and they now use it as an existential threat to the West in the coming years.

Previous Ranking: 3

2025 playoff data (18 games): 21.4 points | 11.6 reb | 1.3 ast

Like Brunson, the town has brought together a lot of statistics in the Eastern Conference Finals, hitting 24.8 points and 12.2 rebounds per game while shooting 50%, 36.7% from 3 times. But, like Brunson, the town struggled with defensive and foul trouble, Indiana sent New York in New York and rejected the Knicks' trip and deprived it of New York in 1999.

However, the town’s first season in New York must be considered a success. He is an all-NBA player and won his fifth All-Star Game while helping the Knicks to the finals for the first time in 25 years. But his defense will need to be improved, and if the Knicks hope to end differently next season, the Knicks will have to improve the roster around him and Bruson.

Previous Ranking: NR