The 2025 NBA Finals are set to begin tonight at 8:30 PM Eastern Time between the Eastern Conference’s Indiana Pacers and the Western Conference’s Oklahoma City Thunder. There are a few Canadians and former Raptors on both sides, so let’s see who they are.
Starting off with Indiana. They have two Canadians, two former Raptors, and one of them might be a forgotten name to the average fan. Let’s start with the Canadians of Andrew Nembhard and Bennedict Mathurin.
Andrew Nembhard has enjoyed a stellar playoffs this year and is quickly gaining the respect of NBA fans. The third-year pro has been a starter for the Pacers all season long and is a pesky defender who is also a great playmaker. Just like last season, Nembhard’s three-point shooting has skyrocketed to 48.3 percent in both playoffs. He shot only 35.7 percent during the last regular season, and this regular season he shot an abysmal 29.1 percent. As for Bennedict Mathurin, his hype is nowhere near Nembhard’s, but he’s still a walking bucket. Mathurin’s minutes have plummeted from 29.8 minutes in the regular season to 16.1, but he’s still averaging 10.4 points per game for the playoffs.
James Johnson was the name I was talking about that might’ve been forgotten by the average fan, as he only appeared in 12 games over the regular season only averaging 3.1 minutes in those outings. Surprisingly, the former Raptor has 3 appearances in the playoffs with 4.3 minutes averaged in those games. Pascal Siakam is the final former Raptor, and he’s perhaps coming into the finals series having played his best playoff series of his career, as he came away with the Eastern Conference MVP award for his performances against the Knicks. Siakam shot a career high of 38.9 percent beyond the arc in the regular season and is shooting 46.3 percent over 16 games in the playoffs.
On the Western side, OKC are carrying two Canadians and one former Raptor that might be more unknown than James Johnson.
The two obvious Canadians are none other than Luguentz Dort and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. They were both a part of the 2024 Canadian Olympic team. Dort’s points per game have been dipping consistently for the past few years now, but he is known for his work on the other end of the court. He received First Team All-NBA Defensive Team honour this season, the first of his career. As for SGA, he was named the NBA MVP for the 2024/25 season recently after a ridiculous career high of 32.7 points per game in the regular season and is the obvious first option for OKC.
The last name for OKC, who is a former Raptor, although very briefly, is rookie Branden Carlson. The rookie big man signed a two-way contract with Toronto after going undrafted in the 2024 NBA Draft. He appeared in four preseason games, only averaging 5.3 minutes and was signed by OKC on November 16, 2024, so it wouldn’t be a shock if some Raptor fans weren’t aware of the name.
