The stage is set, basketball fans! After a wild playoff ride, we’ve got our NBA Finals matchup: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Oklahoma City Thunder are set to battle Tyrese Haliburton’s Indiana Pacers, with Game 1 tipping off on Thursday, June 6th. This isn’t just any Finals, it’s a clash of two young, electrifying teams, both hungry to etch their names in history. And as the anticipation builds, the league MVP, SGA, just dropped a crystal-clear statement about his approach to facing a star like Haliburton.

The Thunder, fresh off that dominant Western Conference Finals performance where SGA was named MVP (because, of course he was!), are looking absolutely dialed in, with Shai knowing he has to disrupt the other team’s best players to win a championship.

SGA didn’t dance around the question. He got straight to the point, explaining his philosophy on how to approach these high-stakes matchups. He said, “…at the end of the day every team has a few guys that are their best players um are the the main engines and get the the ball rolling for them and those guys have strengths and those guys have things that they’re I guess you can say less comfortable doing…” But that wasn’t all.

He acknowledged that the better the player, the harder it is to make them uncomfortable. And then he dropped the key: “… but if you want to win you have to be able to make those guys play in the the things that they’re less comfortable doing and and that’s what the task always is no matter who it is…”

Now, SGA didn’t specifically name Tyrese Haliburton in that exact sentence, but come on, we all know who one of those “main engines” is going to be for the Pacers. It’s pretty wild when you actually stop and think about how both these Finals teams even got here. It wasn’t by chasing the same old superstar blueprint, you know, drafting the obvious #1 pick. Instead, both franchises took a massive gamble by betting big on young, late-lottery guards. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was picked 11th, and Tyrese Haliburton was picked 12th in their respective drafts. Neither was seen as an immediate franchise savior by their original teams.

But OKC and Indiana? They saw something more, something special. They had the vision, and the patience, to build their entire identities around these unorthodox talents. Sam Presti, the Thunder’s GM, said way back in 2019 about SGA, “I think where Shai is today is not close to where ultimately he’s going to be… But we have to be really patient with that process.” And Pacers coach Rick Carlisle basically said acquiring a 21-year-old Haliburton “made it very clear what our identity as a team needed to be.” Talk about foresight! They really understood the assignment.

And in all fairness, both SGA and Haliburton have absolutely blown past even the wildest expectations. So, when Shai talks about making opponents “less comfortable,” you just know he’s pumped for the ultimate chess match against a fellow unorthodox star like Haliburton. This Finals is going be a vibe, and we’re here for every single second of it!

Gilgeous-Alexander vs Haliburton by the numbers (and the odds)

Okay, so if you peek at the playoff stats leading into this championship series, both these guys have been absolutely cooking. SGA, the regular-season MVP and Western Conference Finals MVP (because, duh!), has been a straight-up scoring machine, dropping nearly 30 points per game in these playoffs on a super solid 47.1% shooting. Plus, he’s dishing out close to 6 assists and grabbing over 5 boards. He’s doing it all, for real.

Haliburton, on the other side, has been the absolute engine for that high-octane Pacers offense. He’s putting up nearly 19 points and a ridiculous 10 assists per game, shooting an efficient 46.6% from the field. While SGA definitely has the scoring edge, Haliburton’s playmaking is just off the charts. It’s a classic battle: an elite scorer versus an elite facilitator, even though both can clearly do a bit of everything. It’s a whole vibe, watching them go at it.

Now, when you look at the betting odds for Finals MVP? Whoa. It’s not even close right now. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the massive favorite, sitting at a wild -625 to win the award. Tyrese Haliburton? He’s a distant second at +700. Even Haliburton’s teammate, Pascal Siakam, who just snagged the Eastern Conference Finals MVP, is way further back at +1600.

That basically screams how much the experts are betting on SGA and the Thunder, who are also historically lopsided favorites to win the title at -700 odds. History backs this up too: only one player ever, the legendary Jerry West back in 1969, has won Finals MVP while being on the losing team. So, if you’re feeling bold and think the Pacers can pull off the upset, then maybe Haliburton or Siakam at those longer odds is an interesting, high-risk, high-reward bet. Just sayin’.

But if SGA leads the Thunder to the promised land, he’s not just winning a ring; he’s making some serious history. Only 10 players in NBA history have ever won both the regular-season MVP and the Finals MVP in the same season. We’re talking names like Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson – absolute legends. SGA has a chance to join that incredibly elite company. And here’s a cool little wrinkle: if he does it, he’d be the first player ever to win regular-season MVP, Western Conference Finals MVP (which has only been awarded since 2022), and NBA Finals MVP. Talk about a clean sweep!

This NBA Finals is shaping up to be more than just a battle between two exciting, “small-market” teams. It’s a golden opportunity for both Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Haliburton to truly cement their superstar status on the league’s biggest stage. So, who do you think is taking home the Larry O’Brien? Grab your popcorn, folks, because this is gonna be a wild ride!