While basketball fans will have to wait for a while longer to find out whether the Oklahoma City Thunder or Indiana Pacers triumph in the NBA Finals, a look at how NBA 2K25 rates the two contenders can potentially provide some insight.
The Thunder's bid for the title is led by newly-crowned MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who sports a 98 OVR, with Jalen Williams (89 OVR) and Chet Holmgren (87 OVR) rounding things out in the team's top three. Oklahoma City boasts three additional players with more than 80 OVR: Isaiah Hartenstein (84 OVR), Luguentz Dort (82 OVR), and Alex Caruso (80 OVR). The rest of its top eight rated players consist of Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins with 79 OVR.
This gives the Thunder an average of 85 OVR from its best eight players with Outside Scoring (88), Athleticism (82) and Defense (80) being the team's strongest suits.
In comparison, the Pacers' highest-rated player is Tyrese Haliburton with a 90 OVR. It's a similar picture for the rest of their top three due to Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner being rated with 87 and 84 OVR, respectively. However, there is superior depth in the Pacers' entire top eight, as all of it consists of players with a minimum of 80 OVR. Andrew Nembhard has 83 OVR, Obi Toppin has 82 OVR, Bennedict Mathurin and Aaron Nesmith have 81 OVR, and T.J. McConnell has 80 OVR. That's a much more balanced roster on the whole compared to the opponents' more top-heavy line-up.
This leads to the Indiana Pacers having an average of 84 OVR from their best eight players. Outside Scoring (87), too, is only a single point behind, though the Pacers are clearly on the backfoot in Athleticism (78), Defense (70), and Playmaking (68 vs. 75). Rebound looks to be somewhat closer with 53 to 56 in favor of Thunder.
