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The NBA season could end on Thursday night.
It’s Game 6 of the NBA Finals, with the Oklahoma City Thunder leading the Indiana Pacers 3-2 in the title series. Game 6 is in Indianapolis and Game 7, if necessary, will be Sunday in Oklahoma. The 8:30 contest will be broadcast by ABC.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder are one win away from becoming NBA champions. The Larry O’Brien Trophy will be ready for presentation on Thursday night if the Thunder win. And Gilgeous-Alexander is on the cusp of a nearly unprecedented season when it comes to individual honors.
He is the favorite, as of now, to win NBA Finals MVP. He already has won the NBA MVP award for this season, meaning he could be the first double MVP since LeBron James did it with Miami in 2011-12 and 2012-13.
It could get even better. Gilgeous-Alexander is also the reigning scoring champion, meaning an even more exclusive club may await him. Only three players in NBA history have won MVP, Finals MVP, a scoring title and a championship in the same season: Michael Jordan did it four times, and Shaquille O’Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it once.
Gilgeous-Alexander could join them if the Thunder win this series.
The Pacers entered Thursday awaiting word on whether guard Tyrese Haliburton would be able to play in Game 6; he has a strained right calf.
Thursday is also the 25th anniversary of the end of Indiana’s most recent appearance in the NBA Finals before this season. On June 19, 2000, O’Neal finished off that MVP Finals/MVP-scoring champion/league-champion season when he and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Pacers in Game 6.
If the Pacers avoid that fate Thursday and force a Game 7, it will be Sunday in Oklahoma City.
Watch parties
For Pacers fans who don’t have tickets to the game, another watch party is scheduled Thursday night at Morris Bicentennial Plaza outside Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Tickets priced at $20 each will go on sale at 2 p.m. Thursday (link here), with proceeds going to the Pacers Foundation. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Several locations in Carmel are hosting watch parties, including Midtown Plaza. Officials bars in the Pacers Bar Network throughout the city are also hosting watch parties.
June 19 history
If the NBA Finals end on Thursday, it will mark the third time that the trophy was awarded on June 19.
And the Pacers won’t want to see history repeat itself.
The last time June 19 became the final day of an NBA season was 2016, when Cleveland beat Golden State in Game 7 to cap the comeback from a 3-1 series deficit.
The first—and only other—time that the championship was won on June 19? That would be 2000, when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Pacers in Game 6. The Pacers were on the road for that one; this Game 6 is at home for Indiana.
Moving on up
The win in Game 5 of the NBA Finals was Oklahoma City’s 83rd of the season (68 regular season, 15 playoffs).
The Thunder won’t catch Golden State and its record 88 wins in 2015-16, nor will it catch Chicago and its 87 wins in 1995-96.
But the Thunder could move into a tie with the 1996-97 Bulls for No. 3 all-time for most wins in a season.
A look at where the Thunder are on the all-time wins list:
88 wins — Golden State, 2015-16
87 wins — Chicago, 1995-96
84 wins — Chicago, 1996-97
83 wins — Golden State, 2016-17; Oklahoma City, 2024-25.
Betting odds
Oklahoma City (-3000) is now an enormous favorite to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. Indiana’s odds are now +1250 after the Game 5 loss, and the odds have gotten even longer in the two days that followed.
The Thunder are up to 6.5-point favorites over Indiana for Game 6. It was 4.5 points immediately after Game 5 and likely moved because of the uncertainty surrounding Tyrese Haliburton’s status.
The Pacers have covered in 13 of their first 21 games of these playoffs. The Thunder—favored in every game so far—have covered 10 out of 21 times to this point.
NBA Finals schedule
All games of the NBA Finals will be aired on ABC.
June 5 — Game 1, Indiana 111, Oklahoma City 110
June 8 — Game 2, Oklahoma City 123, Indiana 107
June 11 — Game 3, Indiana 116, Oklahoma City 107
June 13 — Game 4, Oklahoma City 111, Indiana 104
Monday — Game 5, Oklahoma City 120, Indiana 109
Thursday — Game 6, Oklahoma City at Indiana, 8:30 p.m. EDT
Sunday — Game 7, Indiana at Oklahoma City, if necessary, 8 p.m. EDT
At least six games, twice
This is the first time since 2022 that both the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Final went at least six games.
The Florida Panthers won their second consecutive Stanley Cup on Tuesday night, finishing off a six-game series with the Edmonton Oilers.
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