The Memphis Grizzlies had their best season to date in 2011-2012, setting a franchise mark for winning percentage in a season (since broken) and the first time the team had home-court advantage in the playoffs. The Thunder haven't been back to the Finals. Durant would leave Oklahoma City for Golden State in 2016 and Westbrook would be traded to Houston in 2019. The following October, the Thunder would trade Harden, Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook, and Lazar Hayward to the Houston Rockets for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and two first-round draft picks.

Oklahoma City would win Game 1 of the Finals but would lose the next four games and the series. The Thunder swept the Mavericks in the first round (more on that in a bit), ousted the 2010 champion Lakers in five in the second round, then rebounded from an 0-2 deficit to eliminate the top-seeded Spurs in six to reach the Finals. Durant led the NBA in scoring for the third straight season and Ibaka led the league in blocked shots. The core of the franchise was Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden - all of who would eventually win NBA MVP awards - as well as Serge Ibaka.

The Oklahoma City Thunder had been building through the draft and finally reached their first NBA Finals (well, the first in OKC since their move from Seattle).

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