The NBA Finals are here, with the Oklahoma City Thunder set to face the Indiana Pacers for the 2025 NBA title.

With Oklahoma City beating the Minnesota Timberwolves and Indiana knocking off the New York Knicks, it also means that 14 playoff teams have been sent home for the summer, and we’ve seen a whole assortment of star performances over the past several weeks.

So, for the third time in these playoffs, here’s our latest look at the superlative performers of this postseason, as we rank the top eight players through the first three rounds ahead of the start of the championship round in Oklahoma City on Thursday (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC).

Previous rankings: First round | Second round

2025 playoff stats (16 games): 29.8 PTS | 6.9 AST | 5.7 REB | 1.6 STL

The Thunder have been the NBA’s best team all season, and Gilgeous-Alexander was honored a couple of weeks ago as the league’s regular-season MVP. He now finds himself in the top spot in these postseason rankings too, after averaging 31.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 8.2 assists in OKC’s five-game rout of the Timberwolves.

Gilgeous-Alexander has scored at least 30 points in 11 of the 16 games he has played this postseason, and he reached that milestone in all four of the Thunder’s victories in the Western Conference finals. If the heavily favored Thunder go on to win the NBA title, it’s hard to see a scenario where Gilgeous-Alexander doesn’t add a Finals MVP trophy to his tally this season along with the Larry O’Brien.

Previous ranking: 4

2025 playoff stats (16 games): 18.8 PTS | 9.8 AST | 5.7 REB | 1.4 STL

The impending matchup between Gilgeous-Alexander and Haliburton is the best point guard matchup in the NBA Finals since the duels between Kyrie Irving and Stephen Curry during the legendary showdowns between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers from 2015 to 2018.

And if Indiana is going to pull off the upset, it’s going to need Haliburton to have more games like his incredible performance in Game 4 of the conference finals against the Knicks. He finished with 32 points, 15 assists and no turnovers in a comfortable victory that gave Indiana a 3-1 series lead.

That last stat — turnovers — will be one of the key battlegrounds in this series. Oklahoma City’s defense, the best in the league by a wide margin this season, excels at turning teams over. Haliburton, on the other hand, is the best point guard at avoiding turnovers in the NBA.

Previous ranking: 5

2025 playoff stats (18 games): 29.4 PTS | 7.0 AST | 3.4 REB

While Brunson’s defense was a problem in New York’s loss to Indiana (and he had a disappointing Game 6 to end the Knicks’ season), there’s no denying his importance in leading the franchise to its best season in a quarter century. Brunson, the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year this season, averaged 30.7 points and shot over 50% from the field against the Pacers. That his performance overall was seen as a disappointment is indicative of the elevated status he has reached as a player.

Brunson’s first three seasons in New York have already launched him into the top five careers in Knicks franchise history, and there’s a pretty sound argument there are only three players — all Hall of Famers — ahead of him: Willis Reed, Patrick Ewing and Walt Frazier. Not bad company for the former second-round pick whom New York signed as an unrestricted free agent.

Previous ranking: 1

2025 playoff stats (16 games): 21.1 PTS | 5.8 REB | 3.3 AST | 46.3 3P%

The Eastern Conference finals MVP, Siakam — who had 30 points in three of the six games against the Knicks and averaged 24.8 across the series — has fit in beautifully since arriving in Indiana 18 months ago, powering the franchise first to the conference finals last year and now back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000.

The symbiosis between Haliburton and Siakam has played a huge part in the Pacers becoming the high-powered offensive machine they have been for the past couple seasons, especially during these two playoffs runs. Matching that effort against the Thunder, however, is going to be Indiana’s biggest challenge yet.

Previous ranking: NR

2025 playoff stats (14 games): 26.2 PTS | 12.7 REB | 8.0 AST | 2.0 STL

Surprised to see Jokic here despite Denver’s loss in the second round of the playoffs? Well, let’s remind you that the Nuggets had the Thunder on the ropes in Game 5 of the conference semifinals, when they held an eight-point lead through three quarters in Oklahoma City and looked set to put OKC on the brink of elimination for a second straight year.

But although that didn’t happen this time, Jokic’s brilliance forced the Thunder to go the distance in what could easily be the closest any team comes to knocking Oklahoma City off on its way to the title. That, coupled with Jokic’s always comical stats, still has him pretty high on this list even though he has been home for a couple of weeks already.

Previous ranking: 2

2025 playoff stats (16 games): 20.4 PTS | 5.8 REB | 5.3 AST | 1.6 STL

Williams struggled for large portions of Oklahoma City’s second-round victory over Denver, but he came back and had a terrific West finals, shooting just under 50% from the field, 46.2% from 3 and averaging 22.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.0 steals.

One of the big questions about Oklahoma City all season, in terms of its ability to contend for a title, was whether Williams could reliably step into the role as the secondary scorer behind Gilgeous-Alexander on a championship-level team. And while that has been a struggle at times in these playoffs, he showed in Game 4 of the Minnesota series in particular — he had 34 points in perhaps the finest game of his career to help the Thunder take a 3-1 series lead — that he’s growing into that spot right in line with OKC’s title window.

Previous ranking: NR

2025 playoff stats (15 games): 25.3 PTS | 7.8 REB | 5.5 AST

Oklahoma City showed an appropriate fear of Edwards throughout the West finals, sending swarms of defenders at him in an effort to force passes to his teammates and make them beat the Thunder instead. As a result, Edwards finished below 20 points in three of the series’ five games. That happened only once across the opening two rounds of the playoffs.

Still, Edwards leading the Timberwolves to the conference finals in back-to-back seasons after the franchise had only one previous series win is an impressive accomplishment. The question now is what it will take for both Edwards and the Wolves to catch (and surpass) the Thunder, who now loom as the existential threat atop the West for years to come.

Previous ranking: 3

2025 playoff stats (18 games): 21.4 PTS | 11.6 REB | 1.3 AST

Like Brunson, Towns put together massive stats in the East finals, recording 24.8 points and 12.2 rebounds per game while shooting 50% overall and 36.7% from 3. But, like Brunson, Towns struggled defensively and with foul trouble, which Indiana repeatedly took advantage of as it dispatched New York and denied the Knicks a trip to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.

Towns’ first season in New York has to be seen as a success, however. He was an All-NBA player and earned his fifth All-Star appearance while helping the Knicks reach the conference finals for the first time in 25 years. But his defense will need to improve, and the Knicks will have to improve the roster around him and Brunson if they want next season to end differently.

Previous ranking: NR