Jayson Tatum, Celtics Picked to Repeat as NBA Champs over SGA, Thunder in Player Poll

The Oklahoma City Thunder were by far the best team during the regular season, but their peers around the league still don't view them as the championship favorites.

Of 137 players interviewed by The Athletic's Sam Amick and Josh Robbins, 79 picked the Boston Celtics to win the 2025 Finals. The Thunder were second with 24 votes.

That's the respect you receive when you're the reigning champions.

Oklahoma City won 68 games and had the league's highest net rating (plus-12.7), per NBA.com. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is probably heading toward the Most Valuable Player Award after leading the league in scoring with 32.7 points. The Thunder dispatched the Grizzlies by 51 points in Game 1 of their first-round series.

OKC also won both of its matchups against Boston this year.

And yet, the Celtics are more battle-tested than any other team. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford were there when the team reached the Eastern Conference Finals under Brad Stevens. There's even more continuity between this squad and the ones that reached the 2022 Finals and then lifted a title last season. This core has proven it can go all the way.

Boston also finished just three games worse than the Cleveland Cavaliers, who looked earlier in the season like they might run away with the top seed.

It would be one thing if the Celtics had lost some key players, had a major injury or two, or simply fell off badly in terms of their performance. Instead, they definitely look like a team that can climb to the NBA mountaintop again.