The Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers have reached the 2025 NBA Finals and have gained some history in the process.

Two small market teams ended their final rivals in a brisk manner, with the Pacers finishing Saturday night with the New York Knicks. As Spotac's Keith Smith pointed out Wednesday, the Thunder's series will be a final for both teams to pay luxury taxes.

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The Pacers are ranked 18th in the NBA this season with a number of $169,149,491, while the Thunder ranks 25th with $165,601,091. Meanwhile, the Knicks ranked fourth with $188,877,651, while the Thunder's Minnesota Timberwolves ranked second with $202,790,231 in the Western Conference Finals.

The threshold for taxes is $170,814,000 this season, with a total of 11 teams surpassing that number. Seven of the teams entered the playoffs.

The luxury tax was proposed in 2002. According to reports, each NBA Finals reportedly had at least one luxury tax team, although taxes were not paid in 2002 and 2005 due to lack of basketball-related income. Of the 44 teams that entered the finals, 26 are taxpayers.

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Of the 22 championships, 16 are taxpayers. Smith’s non-tax sellers: the 2006 Miami Heat in San Antonio Ma Township, the 2014 Golden State Warriors, the 2017 Warriors (in some way) and the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers.

How did the Thunder and Pacers reach the NBA Finals with such a cheap team?

When they reached this with different philosophies, the Thunder and Pacers actually had similar balance sheets. Both teams have signed a pair of considerable contracts for their point guard and top big guys, with reasonable senior deals and rookie contracts filled in the rest of the roster.

The Thunder signed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in 2021, reaching a five-year, $172 million high-ranking postponement and hitting a three-year, $87 million free agent deal last offseason. Those are their two beginners. Their other three are Ludot ($16.5 million in 2024-25), Chet Homgren (rookie contract) and Jaylen Williams (rookie contract).

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With some of the best young talent in the NBA for such cheap deals, the Thunder backed up their core with deals like Hartenstein and defensive ace Alex Caruso, and then they traded, which was traded for four years and $41 million.

Meanwhile, Pacers stars Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam both made $42,176,400 in very similar largest extensions this season. The rest of the starters: Myles Turner ($19.9 million this season), Aaron Nesmith ($11 million) and Andrew Nembhard ($2 million).

The only Pacers who earned over $10 million was the main bench OBI Toppin, at $12,975,000.

With both teams, you can see a long-term plan implemented and there is no albatross contract. The Thunder represented a classic reconstruction plan that stripped the roster to the studs, and the deal sent Paul George to exchange Gilgeous-Alexander and a series of draft capital, while the Pacers recreated a ceiling for trade with Haliburton-Domantas Sabonis Sabonis before pushing it to the Siaiakam trade.

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Both teams are models for small market teams hitting jackpots, although we should emphasize that neither list will stay cheap for a long time.

These teams are now relatively cheap

Regardless of the finals, every young player on the Thunder will receive a huge pay raise. Gilgeous-Alexander will qualify for a record five-year, $380 million Supermax deal, while Holmgren and Williams will qualify for $592 million rookie Max Extensions.

The Thunder have made it clear that they intend to pay at least for Gilgeous-Alexander, but if they have three deals outside of Hartenstein in the book, the roster building will be a little harder. OKC is the smallest market in the NBA, but if everyone is to be kept, it will be paid in the future.

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But the good news for the Thunder is that each major contributor has signed a contract for next season. Regarding Pacers' Pacers, Turner hits free agents and pays the same thing with a big pay raise.