The Oklahoma City Thunder have reached the pinnacle of the basketball world. Not because they won a title, this young, loaded roster has been knocking on the door for two seasons, but because of how they did it.
Led by MVP and Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, an emerging superstar in Jalen Williams, and a defensive anchor in Chet Holmgren, OKC steamrolled their way to the 2025 NBA championship with a blend of poise, depth, and future-facing versatility.
But where do they stand among the last 10 champs? Rings matter, but context is everything. How dominant was the run? How strong was the competition? Did the title define an era or just capture lightning in a bottle?
From historic superteams to one-hit wonders, we’re ranking every NBA champion from the 2015-16 Cavaliers through the 2024-25 Thunder, and we anticipate a debate brewing.
1. 2016-17 Golden State Warriors
Regular Season: 67-15, 1st in Western Conference
Playoffs: 16-1 (.941)
They were a vision of dominance. Adding Kevin Durant to a lethal nucleus of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green turned the league upside-down. They obliterated teams with both volume and efficiency, leading the league in offense (115.9 PPG) and posting stout defense (104.3 PPG allowed and 2nd-ranked defensive rating). Durant’s Finals MVP run (35.2 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 5.4 APG) cemented their ruthless superiority.
Their 16-1 postseason performance remains the best winning percentage in modern playoff history, with zero flinches, even their lone loss felt inconsequential. They set an amazing mark with regular + postseason wins (83), a feat that isn’t even the most impressive of what they did.
They’re the gold standard: Built for perfection, and near-perfect they were. Everything clicked, star power, spacing, depth, and coaching synergy: no apologies or gimmicks, just pure legacy.
2. 2017-18 Golden State Warriors
Regular Season: 58-24, 2nd in Western Conference
Playoffs: 16-5 (.762)
Despite injuries and wear, they still put up elite numbers: 113.5 PPG (1st) while holding teams under 108 PPG (11th in defensive rating). All four core stars, Curry, Thompson, Durant, and Green, made consecutive All-Star appearances, marking a historic dynasty. Durant snagged his second straight Finals MVP (28.8 PPG, 10.8 RPG, 7.5 APG), showcasing consistency in greatness.
They braved tough playoff battles, including a rough-and-tumble seven-game series against Houston, yet stood unshaken, then showed their dominance in a Finals sweep. Their resilience defined them; this wasn’t a flash-in-the-pan team, but a regime.
They drop just below their near-perfect predecessors thanks to fatigue and tighter resistance, but greatness refuses to falter. Dynasty, legend, done.
3. 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers
Regular Season: 57-25, 1st in Eastern Conference
Playoffs: 16-5 (.762)
The Cleveland Cavaliers stormed into the East as top seeds due to LeBron James’ leadership, combining balanced offense (3rd in offensive rating) with stout defense (10th). Coached by Tyronn Lue, this team remade itself mid-season after firing Blatt, and peaking with near-legendary resilience.
In the Finals, they reverse a 3-1 deficit against the historic 73-win Warriors, fueled by LeBron’s stat-stuffing brilliance (29.7 PPG, 11.3 RPG, 8.9 APG) and dramatic heroics, “The Block,” Kyrie Irving’s dagger three. It ended Cleveland’s 52-year title drought and cemented an emotional legacy.
This isn’t ranked third-highest for style or for the fact that two all-time great players competed alongside each other, but for story. It’s a gritty, almost cinematic win fueled less by system than spirit. A championship etched in legend.
4. 2023-24 Boston Celtics
Regular Season: 64-18, 1st in Eastern Conference
Playoffs: 16-3 (.842)
The Boston Celtics terrorized both ends of the court, elite offense (116.3 PPG) and defense, with their defense-first net rating among top teams en route to the franchise’s 18th championship. Depth was legit, every starter scored at least 9 points and grabbed 6 boards in Game 5, a Finals first. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown took giant leaps, while Joe Mazzulla’s leadership unlocked cohesion.
They flattened Miami and Cleveland before sweeping Indiana and delivering in the Finals. Brown averaged 20.8 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 5.0 APG to earn Finals MVP, while Tatum posted big Game 5 numbers (31/11/8). Quite simply, the Celtics were dominant from the start until the end of the season.
This title represents both dominance and dynasty, dominance in stats, and the start of the modern Celtics’ pedigree. One of the best title runs in the past decade without a doubt, and credit does have to go to Brad Stevens for adding Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis to a stacked roster.
5. 2019-20 Los Angeles Lakers
Regular Season: 52-19, 1st in Western Conference
Playoffs: 16-5 (.762)
They led a season dominated by uncertainty, both on and off the court. LeBron James averaged 25.3 PPG and league-leading 10.2 APG, Anthony Davis led the team in scoring at 26.0 PPG, and the Los Angeles Lakers finished 4th in defense (107.6 PPG allowed). Both LeBron James and Anthony Davis were MVP-caliber, and the pairing was simply too lethal for anyone to stop.
In Orlando’s bubble, they were ice-cold clutch performers: a 16-5 postseason record, including a gentleman’s sweep of Portland, and a clean 4-1 dismissal of the Rockets and Nuggets apiece. They then crashed the beat-up Miami Heat in six. LeBron’s leadership, AD’s two-way dominance, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s sharpshooting sealed it.
This was classic Lakers: star-power fueled, defensively tough, resilient through adversity, and traumatic one season later with Kobe’s passing. It wasn’t the flashiest renaissance, and the Finals matchup was certainly lopsided, but it restored the purple-and-gold legacy in one decisive swoop, and we haven’t seen a more dominant duo than James and Davis since Shaq and Kobe.
6. 2024-25 Oklahoma City Thunder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2QNS9lWz50
Regular Season: 68-14, 1st in Western Conference
Playoffs: 16-7 (0.696)
The Thunder dominated the regular season, finishing 68-14 with a staggering +12.9 point differential, the best in NBA history. They led the league in net rating (120.3 ORtg, 107.5 DRtg) and obliterated teams by double digits, including a 41-point blowout over Washington.
Coach Daigneault blended youth, size, and heady veterans into a rotation that balanced aggression, spacing, and defensive sting. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander capped MVP-worthy regular-season form (32.7 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 6.4 APG) then carried it into the Finals, earning both regular-season and Finals MVP honors, the first player to accomplish that since Shaq in 2002.
His Finals stats were unreal: averaged 30.3/5.6/1.9 steals/1.6 blocks, scored at least 30 points and 5 assists in 12 playoff games, a single-season record over Jordan and LeBron. He poured 29 points and 12 assists in the decisive Game 7 to close out Oklahoma City’s first title since 1979 as the Seattle SuperSonics.
7. 2020-21 Milwaukee Bucks
Regular Season: 46-26, 3rd in Eastern Conference
Playoffs: 16-7 (.696)
After the Milwaukee Bucks brought in Jrue Holiday, who shifted the defensive tone, the team focused everything on Giannis Antetokounmpo and sidekick Khris Middleton. The Bucks hit peak form late, dominated both ends, and secured home-court advantage in what was a wonky, pandemic-disrupted season.
Giannis put up monster numbers in the Finals, 35.2 PPG, 13.2 RPG, 5.0 APG, and dropped 50 in Game 6 to close it out. Finals MVP was his coronation, and Jrue was the Swiss Army knife, key to shutting down Devin Booker in pivotal games.
It was a breakthrough, the city’s first championship in 50 years, and a mood-balancer amid the pandemic. It is not quite a dynasty, but it is proof that defense and superhuman determination can still be the difference when it comes to winning NBA championships.
8. 2018-19 Toronto Raptors
Regular Season: 58-24, 2nd in Eastern Conference
Playoffs: 16-8 (.667)
This was the peak of “We the North.” Kawhi Leonard had a transcendent year, 26.6 PPG in the regular season and a legendary playoff MVP performance: 28.5/9.8/4.2 in the Finals. His postseason averages were gaudy: 30.5 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 3.9 APG, 62% TS%, Jordan-level takeover.
The unthinkable happened in Game 7 vs. Philly, then they absolutely dropped GSW in six, Klay dropped 10 threes in Game 3, but Kawhi closed the deal with his dagger bounce-and-fly. The Toronto Raptors won on defense, grit, and surgical execution around a roster that featured Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, and Kyle Lowry.
It’s top-tier because they killed history itself, first non-US team to win it all, and did it to the most dominant Warriors ever built. A perfect storm, led by a perfect moment and a near-perfect season from Kawhi.
9. 2022-23 Denver Nuggets
Regular Season: 53-29, 1st in Western Conference
Playoffs: 16-4 (.800)
Denver was solid in the West, but nobody saw this coming: a near-sweep through the playoffs and a 16-4 record, a dominance unseen since the early 2000s. The team flipped a “could-be” label into reality with Jokic (30.2/14.0/7.2 in Finals) leading every playoff statistical category, including points, assists, and rebounds.
The Nuggets fought off Minnesota and Phoenix with a total of three losses, swept the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, and choked out Miami in Game 5, pure chemistry and elite two-way basketball. Coach Malone finally got the ring he deserved, and Jokic solidified his legacy as an all-time great.
This one ranks high for context-shell shock and Jokic’s MVP dominance; he’s vaulting up to the pantheon. A rising team owning the moment, and demanding more after the confetti fell, could be soon to come. But the 2022-23 Nuggets were too much of an underdog to be considered on the level of the teams above, and they faced a weak Heat team in the Finals.
10. 2021-22 Golden State Warriors
Regular Season: 53-29, 3rd in Western Conference
Playoffs: 16-6 (.727)
They came off a 2-year drought of being in the Finals, overcame injuries, and shocked a loaded field. Stephen Curry dominated, averaging 27.4 PPG in 22 playoff games, and dropped 31.2/6/5 in the Finals, including clutch 34-point outbursts. The shot-leading, dogpile-earning mascot became Finals MVP at long last.
They used their championship experience to dispose of the Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies, and Dallas Mavericks before facing the hungry Boston Celtics. Depth was key as Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins, and Andre Iguodala proved clutch outside the Splash Brothers and Draymond Green.
It’s ranked lowest not for lack of grit, but because it was a bounce-back, not the definition of a dynasty, just a validated comeback against a Celtics side that really beat themselves in the Finals. Still, a legacy-affirming win, and Curry’s MVP was overdue.
