Back in 2012, the Oklahoma City Thunder became one of the youngest teams in NBA history to make the Finals even though they lost to LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat. Their run through the postseason was led by the stellar play of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, both of whom would bring home MVP honors in the future. They even had a third future MVP on their bench in sixth-man James Harden. This Thunder team is eerily similar and are poised to continue their unprecedented run through the Western Conference playoff landscapes as they face the vaunted Dallas Mavericks in the second round. 

In building both Thunder teams, both back then and in the present, general manager Sam Presti executed key moves and draft decisions in order to create each squad without breaking the bank. The only key difference in roster construction is the way by which their top players arrived to the team. The Thunder, or Seattle Supersonics at the time, drafted Kevin Durant in the 2007 draft, pairing him with Russell Westbrook, who they took in the 2008 draft. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, on the other hand, found his way to Oklahoma City via a blockbuster trade that sent Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers, in return for Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Galinari and a treasure trove of draft picks that give the Thunder a lot of different options moving forward.

Young teams tend to struggle in the postseason, largely due to a lack of experience and the fact that opponents are able to game plan specifically for them, robbing young stars of their unpredictability. The notable exception to this trend, of course, is the Thunder, who dispatched the Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs on their way to the Finals in 2012. This year’s team won’t have to take on such daunting opponents, but the Western Conference has proven to be random and ultra-competitive this year, more so than many others. Oklahoma City has proved many critics wrong, staying near the top of the conference all season and securing the top seed on the final day thanks to a tiebreaker they had over the Denver Nuggets.

Despite there being over a decade between each team’s existence, both editions of the Thunder, both now and then, play similarly. Both hang their hats on the defensive end of the floor, turning their opponents over and thriving in transition thanks to their speed and length. Both teams have a go-to scorer that they can hand the ball to and be confident that they will be taken to a win in a close game scenario in Kevin Durant and SGA, as well as defensive stalwarts that lurk down low, protecting the paint and sending shots back in Serge Ibaka and Chet Holmgren. Each team is deep and well coached and have played with a maturity of a much older team. Plus, their home arena has consistently been one of the toughest places to play in the playoffs for visitors. 

There have been murmurs around the NBA world that similarly to the 2012 team, this Thunder squad and their youth will catch up to them in the end and they will inevitably come up short of taking home the Larry O’Brien trophy despite a dominant season. Then, as time goes on, the fear that the team won’t be able to pay all of their young players grows and grows, reminiscent of the drama in the 2012-13 season that saw the Thunder deal James Harden to the Houston Rockets, where he thrived and became the MVP later on. For now though, fans enjoy the togetherness that the team presents every night and the energy that they play with. It will be interesting if the Thunder can finish what they started and take home the championship, achieving the dreams they had all those years ago.