Every Player Making Their NBA Finals Debut in 2025

Which Pacers and Thunder players are making their NBA Finals debut?

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8), forward Chet Holmgren (7) and guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) talk to the media after defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves in game four of the western conference finals for the 2025 NBA Playoffs. / Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Inexperience will be a theme of the 2025 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers. The Thunder are returning to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012 and the Pacers for the first time since 2000, when a good chunk of their roster hadn't even been born yet.

For the majority of players that will be competing, this will mark their first appearances in the NBA Finals. Though every player has now garnered some playoff experience, only four players on both teams combined have previously competed in the Finals. Just three have won championships.

Here is a look at every player that is making their NBA Finals debut this year.

Every Thunder Player Making Their NBA Finals Debut

Player	Age	Position
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	26	PG
Chet Holmgren	23	PF
Aaron Wiggins	26	SG
Jalen Williams	24	F
Luguentz Dort	26	G
Jaylin Williams	22	F
Branden Carlson	25	C
Ousmane Dieng	22	F
Alex Ducas	24	G
Adam Flager	25	F
Isaiah Hartenstein	27	C
Isaiah Joe	25	SG
Dillon Jones	23	F
Ajay Mitchell	22	G
Nikola Topic	19	G
Cason Wallace	21	G
Kenrich Williams	30	SF

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander makes his first trip to the NBA Finals on the heels of winning his first NBA MVP award. Gilgeous-Alexander was voted the MVP after leading the league in scoring by averaging 32.7 points per game. So far this postseason, he's averaged 29.8 points, 6.9 assists, and 5.7 rebounds per game.

Gilgeous-Alexander and Dort are the longest-tenured players on the team, having joined Oklahoma City in 2019. Six years later, they are now leading a young squad to the NBA Finals.

Holmgren and Jalen Williams were both first-round picks by the Thunder in 2022, and alongside Dort and Wiggins, make up the young core of the team that has spent their careers only with the Thunder so far, and are now reaping the benefits by reaching the Finals.

Every Pacers Player Making Their NBA Finals Debut

Player	Age	Position
Tyrese Haliburton	25	PG
Myles Turner	29	C
Bennedict Mathurin	22	SG
Obi Toppin	27	PF
T.J. McConnell	33	PG
Andrew Nembhard	25	PG
James Johnson	38	PF
Tony Bradley	27	C
RayJ Dennis	24	G
Enrique Freeman	24	F
John Furphy	20	F
Isaiah Jackson	23	SF
Quenton Jackson	26	G
Ben Sheppard	23	G
Jarace Walker	21	F

Tyrese Haliburton leads a Pacers group that is looking to win their first NBA championship in franchise history. Though he was voted the most overrated player in the league by a poll from The Athletic earlier this season, Haliburton led the NBA in assists per game this year and has brought his team to the Finals for the first time since 2000.

Turner, the team's longest-tenured player, makes his first career NBA Finals. He has spent his entire career with the Pacers since they took him in the 2015 NBA draft, and he finally gets the opportunity to compete for his first title.

Like Williams and Holmgren of the Thunder, Mathurin is another first-round pick from the 2022 NBA draft class making his NBA Finals debut in just the third year of his career. Both the Thunder and Pacers hitting on their picks in that class has proven key in them reaching this point.

Which Thunder and Pacers Players Have Made the NBA Finals Before?

Current Team	Player	Previous Finals Appearance(s)	Result
Thunder	Alex Caruso	With the Lakers in 2020	Lakers beat the Heat in six.
Pacers	Pascal Siakam	With the Raptors in 2019.	Raptors beat the Warriors in six.
Pacers	Aaron Nesmith	With the Celtics in 2022	Celtics lost to the Warriors in six.
Pacers	Thomas Bryant	With the Nuggets in 2023	Nuggets beat the Heat in five.

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