The 2025 NBA Finals kick off in a matter of hours, as the 68-win juggernaut Oklahoma City Thunder will host Game 1 against an underdog Indiana Pacers team which keeps finding ways to defy the odds. Before the series tips off, here is a look at the Sixers' plentiful connections to figures on both sides:
T.J. McConnell
The headliner, of course, is McConnell, now a veteran of 10 NBA seasons and set to make his Finals debut as the leader of Indiana's second unit. Perhaps the only thing more surprising than McConnell's tremendous four-year run with the Sixers is that since departing he has staged a longer and more productive tenure with another organization. But in six years with the Pacers, the Pittsburgh native has done just that.
This week's 5 Sixers thoughts led with the incredible nature of McConnell's rise, from undrafted sixth-string point guard to where he is now: a critical component of an NBA Finals team who by the end of his next contract will have racked up approximately $89 million in career earnings.
"It's one of those things where you blink, and it's like, 'Where did the 10 years go?' It's crazy to think about," McConnell said in the visiting locker room at the Wells Fargo Center last December. "…I feel like I went out and earned what I've gotten, and just put my head down and gone to work and let the chips fall. I'm just proud of where I'm at now and I think I've earned everything I've gotten."
MORE: McConnell talks reaching 10 years in NBA
Isaiah Joe
Joe, the No. 49 overall pick by the Sixers in 2020, is the only other rotation regular in this series who played for the organization. Joe's role fluctuated a bit during the Western Conference Finals, but he posted a career-high in total minutes and minutes per game this season, one of Oklahoma City's many excellent bench contributors. Joe did also start in 16 games, as his stellar three-point shooting stroke makes him an easy player to plug into most units.
The Sixers infamously waived Joe before the beginning of his third NBA campaign, and he quickly landed with the Thunder and began to blossom into the high-caliber role player he is now. Thunder head coach Mark Daigenault raved about Joe to reporters in Philadelphia in January.
"He's just an amazing guy," Daigenault said. "He's a high-character person. There's no cynicism, there's no excuses, he's a total team guy, he plays different roles, doesn't flinch, regardless of the circumstances. He plays in character every single night, very consistent as a worker, as a person, as a player. And I've said this many times, but he gets labeled as a shooter because of how well he shoots it, but he's got a complete game, including the defensive end. For a guy that's kind of a marksman-type player — a lot of those guys are a liability on the other end — and he gives great effort and takes a lot of pride in that end. He's physical, takes charges, he puts his chest on people… He does a lot of things aside from shooting the ball that really creates a lot of gravity and space for the team. So, couldn't be more pleased with his progress over his time here."
MORE: Identifying targets for Sixers at No. 35 based on Daryl Morey's draft history
Tony Bradley
The only other player active for this series to don a Sixers uniform in a regular season game is Bradley, the 27-year-old center who had a short stint in Philadelphia. The Sixers traded Zhaire Smith for Bradley before the 2020-21 season, and he played in 20 games with the team before being rerouted at the trade deadline — ironically, he was sent to Oklahoma City — as salary filler in the deal to bring George Hill to Philadelphia. Bradley will be remembered most for being part of the "Seven Sixers," when injuries and COVID-19-related absences forced the Sixers to face the Denver Nuggets with only seven players available. Two of those players were Bradley and Joe:
HERE COME THE SIXERS BABY pic.twitter.com/ubj4RFuHwm
— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) January 9, 2021
Bradley did have a brief stretch of strong play before being traded, and it incited one of the funnier tweets from Joel Embiid's account:
That’s it!!! I’ve seen enough. Build around Tony Bradley @sixers
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) March 12, 2021
Bradley appeared to be on his way out of the league, just six weeks away from going two straight seasons without appearing in the NBA. But desperate for center depth, the Pacers signed Bradley to a 10-day contract, which he parlayed into a second 10-day deal and eventually a rest-of-season contract. He and Thomas Bryant have taken turns as the Pacers' primary backup center during this playoff run.
Looser ties
Some other connections to the Sixers within this series worth noting:
• During Brett Brown's tenure as Sixers head coach, his most well-known assistant was Lloyd Pierce, a strong defensive mind who has often been credited with the development of Robert Covington from an undrafted shooter into an First Team All-Defense honoree. After an unsuccessful run as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, Pierce has spent the last four seasons as an assistant coach in Indiana.
• On the other side there is Thunder assistant coach Connor Johnson, who spent nearly a decade with the Sixers, first as a video coordinator for Brown and then as the head coach of the Delaware Blue Coats. Johnson has been with Oklahoma City since 2021, and was promoted to an assistant coaching role in 2023.
• The highest-profile Sixers Summer League roster ever was likely in 2016. No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons stole the show, but he was accompanied by McConnell, as well as Jerami Grant, Richaun Holmes, Nik Stauskas, Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, Christian Wood and… Alex Caruso, who failed to catch on with the Sixers before establishing himself as a quality rotation guard with the Los Angeles Lakers and eventually turning into one of the best guard defenders in recent NBA history.
• Every team's guidelines for which players receive championship rings is different, but if the Thunder do win the title, Sixers two-way forward Alex Reese could be on the lookout for a package in the mail. Reese logged 113 seconds of action in Oklahoma City's win over the Hawks on October 27. He was waived shortly thereafter, and months later landed with the Sixers. Reese remains on a two-way deal headed into next season.
• Meanwhile, if the Pacers stage another upset, Jahlil Okafor could be in for a surprise as well. Okafor has been adamant that he could return to the NBA, and he earned that opportunity by playing well for Indiana's affiliate in the G League. It earned him a 10-day deal before the team landed on Bradley, and Okafor made one appearance lasting three minutes and change for the Pacers before his deal expired.
MORE: Can Sixers trade down from No. 3 pick? Negotiating with writers around NBA
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