On May 19, as the Thunder defeated the Nuggets 125-93 in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals, NBA history was rewritten again - this is the seventh consecutive season that the league has produced different championship teams. From the Warriors in 2018 to the Nuggets in 2023, no team has been able to defend the title, and this trend continues in 2024.

The teams that made it to the NBA Finals this season are: Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers. These four teams have not been in the finals for many years, and three of them have never won the championship in the " modern NBA" ( since the introduction of the three-point line in 1980 ), which means that this year will inevitably give birth to a new " king " of the new era .

Among the top four teams, the New York Knicks have the most history. This old powerhouse team was founded in 1946 and won the championship twice in 1970 and 1973. However, it has been half a century since then. Today, Walter Frazier , the hero of the former championship, is over 80 years old and has become the Knicks' home commentator, witnessing the team's road to revival.

Although the Thunder has never won a championship under its current name, its predecessor, the Seattle SuperSonics, won the championship in 1979. After moving to Oklahoma, the Thunder reached the finals in 2012 , but lost to the Heat led by LeBron. Now the young core Alexander is leading the team to rise again with strong momentum.

The Pacers' historical championship titles came from the ABA League before the NBA merger. They have never reached the top in the NBA era. Although they were close to the finals many times during the Reggie Miller era, they were always just a hair's breadth away. This year, they have shown strong vitality with the new generation of core players such as Haliburton, eager to end the embarrassing record of " no championship " .

As for the Timberwolves, they are the only team among the four teams that have never made it to the finals. Since the team was founded in 1989 , they have only made it to the Western Conference Finals in 2004 , led by Garnett. This year, under the leadership of Edwards and Gobert, the Wolves overcame strong opponents such as the Nuggets and made it to the conference finals for the first time, writing a new chapter.

This high degree of uncertainty about who will win the championship is a reflection of the overall balance of the league under the new labor agreement. The record of seven different champions in seven consecutive years is not only an unprecedented era of " competition among many teams " in NBA history , but also shows the vitality and hope of the league to fans around the world.