2012 Oklahoma City Thunder | The Best NBA Teams to Never Win a Title

[@jordanking5067]

The 2012 season was a heartbreaker, but when that plane returned back to OKC, it seemed like every person in Oklahoma was there. My dad took me up to the airport to see them, One of my greatest memories ever.

[@chriswilliams1024]

Imagine the 2012 Thunder vs 2004 Detroit Pistons

[@RJ_824]

​@@chriswilliams1024 could be a 7 game series possibly

[@nomercyinc6783]

thats fuckin absurd. why great a team that lost. they didnt do anything great.nobody remembers the losers

[@peterakin5793]

Who agrees, this team is the REASON teams "tank" and rebuild. I felt like before this, the surefire way to win championships was to trade for established stars. KG+Pierce and Gasol+Kobe in 2008

[@jubomalseeco3117]

The OKC were definitely the draft/rebuild team that had the quickest turnaround into finals contender to that point and that's really just down to freak drafting effectiveness. Trading for an established star was the quickest way to get into a win now scenario, but whether or not they make the team a contender was kind of inconsistent. With drafting, it would take longer to get a contender, but you could see the trajectory of the team's performance ahead of time.

[@musicandmagic909]

They're not the reason. It's not rocket surgery to figure out how to take advantage of the draft. David Robinson being injured allowed the Spurs to draft Tim Duncan. Do you think they said "let's play our hearts out for the season without our #1 player" or "this is our chance to get a top pick now that our dominant big man is injured"? The Bulls didn't want to play MJ more than 7 minutes a half in order to tank for better draft options. Isiah Thomas was benched so that the Pistons could draft Grant Hill. The first one is my observation, the second one was in The Last Dance, and the third was Isiah Thomas himself saying that that's what happened. This is nothing new.

[@peterakin5793]

​@@musicandmagic909 Sometimes injuries occur and you are lucky to draft top talent. This wasn't teams STRATEGY back then, the 76ers openly copied the Thunder in 2014 by tanking and many teams followed.

[@mrboombastic63]

@@musicandmagic909its not rocket surgery?

[@rgncal4872]

@@musicandmagic909 rocket science bruh 😂😂😂😂

[@marecare223]

2016 must be up there for the best NBA season ever

[@cheesygrater]

It is the best season ever. You can’t convince me otherwise

[@Skinslyfe]

@@cheesygrateryou haven’t even been alive for 1/4 of the nba seasons so how would you know

[@vulcanraven9701]

Strongly disagree. The Eastern Conference was just the Cavaliers invitational. Terrible teams all across except one team with 4 all star caliber players. Also Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan were washed up

[@vulcanraven9701]

@@cheesygrater maybe if youre a lebron fan

[@theonlygoodonehere2259]

@@cheesygrater there are much better seasons than 2016 season, 2016 just had a lot of records being broken

[@M_11_m41n]

The craziest thing about the James Harden trade that happened was that they should have kept Kevin Martin, instead of having an inconsistent point guard platoon with Derek Fisher.

[@christianbaker322]

Your mum

[@mitchconner2021]

They should have kept him and got anyone else who could shoot lol

[@acehood5922]

As a thunder fan this videos great but painful to relive again smh

[@matteoairaghi790]

As a thunder fan, THAT Klay thompson three pointer is still the most painful thing ever. Every OKC fan knows what i'm talking about

[@anf9311]

6:54 little did we know at the time - that'd turn out to be Kobe's final playoff game. Crazy

[@jand1144]

Time flies i remember those years like yesterday crazy its been 11 year's 💯

[@bomberbcm]

I think 2014 was great too. Crazy point differential and legit had a case for the best team in the league before Russ got hurt by Pat Bev

[@videojameplayer1448]

Never forget, Pat Bev stole our shot at the title that year and the year after

[@theonlygoodonehere2259]

@@videojameplayer1448 2014 not 2013, 2013 thunder with russ would have lost to spurs

[@edgarsnake2857]

Great, entertaining commentary on one of the big What-ifs. Oh, so close... Everyone knew the Harden thing was a mistake except the OKC brass. No joke: I was in a semi-coma from a car accident/ brain injury at the time they let Harden go. My condition was so bad I was hallucinating and I couldn't find my way around my own house without help. But, I remember lying in bed and hearing the radio report about Harden on Boston sports radio. I said out loud, "That's a mistake."

[@xaevius5319]

damn man. do stuff like hallucinations just solve itself over time? idk much about brain injury and stuff like that, u know psychosis and shit

[@滋榎本]

The Thunder didn't win a championship in the 2010s, but they were a very good team. I was very sad when I learned that Kevin Durant was leaving the Thunder for the Warriors in 2016.

[@staidenofanarchy]

I'd love to see a retrospective on Russ's revenge tour

[@andrecambridge4474]

James Harden was in the damn strip clubs during the finals and then disappeared. Huh. That’s not ominous.

[@benjaminglazer7217]

Don’t ever call Kendrick Perkins good again

[@torianconerly8736]

Exactly! As a Thunder fan...he was especially trash with us 😡

[@thekidfromcleveland3944]

He was good as Blake Griffins Pommel horse

[@joshuamoore5510]

I love these videos. All i listen to at work 😂

[@whiteboyeleazar4820]

During break time 😅 😂 love this channel

[@the_seahawk22]

If they were still in Seattle they would have won #bringbackoursonics #noonelikesOKC

[@vibechecktsundere4912]

Grade A cope. That doesn’t change anything with where they’re at. Seattle wasn’t a FA destination for a long time near the end

[@YankeesLife]

They would have had one championship definitely. Maybe a second one, if they stayed in Seattle there would be no curse

[@zaquarviousgaffney367]

well Sorry OKC is getting a New Arena

[@tarikbleak]

2016 might be the greatest year in sports Super Bowl 50 Peyton Manning won in spectacular style retiring, the NBA had Kobe and Duncan retire in the same sentence probably the most entertaining playoffs of all time. Warriors came back from 3-1 and the Cavs comeback from 3-1 in the NBA finals. Ronaldo won the 2016 Euros with an extremely trash Portugal team and the incredible 2016 Champions League run. It was just pure raw entertainment from start to finish.

[@dryames4319]

Don't forget Leicester City won the premier league too!

[@stacetucker2294]

Don't forget Cubs won World Series, Michael Phelps came back from retirement and won 4 gold and 2 silver in Rio to become the most accomplished Olympic athlete.

[@ChiefBlue4298]

And the Penguins won the Stanley Cup (their 2nd during the Crosby/Malkin era) after starting their season slow

[@marquanmr]

Fuck the cubs​@@stacetucker2294

[@vulcanraven9701]

Hold up. Peyton didnt win in spectacular style. He was bad and the defense carried the team. I'd argue 2023 was much better in just about every sport

[@Mysterybabylon696]

Imagine if those Three were together when the warriors started their reign of terror.those playoff matchups would have been must see tv.

[@joesmith8725]

2013, 2015 and 2016 were other chances for them as well.

[@gfreshnit]

Damn that Iggy and 1 shot at 16:41, was a crazy display of talent! The added spin of ball, off the backboard, right on cue, all while drawing the foul...!

[@JuanGonzalez-lf4bm]

This channel needs more subscribers Fr

[@himekomurata72]

With how good your contents are, I thought you were like 100k subs minimum but hope you reach those one day 😁

[@Daviday330]

u guys are goated keep up the amazing job

[@JJ-ui4ph]

Even with as bad as that Harden trade was they still had a chance to become a dynasty. One of the picks they got for Harden became Steven Adams. I like him but realize this. When they drafted Adams both Giannis and Rudy Gobert were still available.

[@MistahJay7]

As a Bron guy I was kind of annoyed that the Thunder were up 3-1 against the Warriors in 2016. I wanted revenge on the Warriors for 2015 lol I was glad that the Warriors were able to come back. Probs the only Time in my life I ever wanted to them to win a series

[@Janon743]

You got the sweetest revenge possible too lol

[@MistahJay7]

@@Janon743 Damn right. Though things were looking pretty bleak after Game 4 lol I was like really all that hype all year just to be down 3-1 now -_-......Then the unthinkable happened.

[@TheFrostbite324]

Don’t forget Stephen Adams was bodying to Spurs on the boards in the WCF

[@onlyevanromo]

I’d like to see a 2014 Spurs retrospective from you all!

[@hmohngcheelee7549]

I guess you could say in 2012 the league was Thunder Struck.

[@ChiefBlue4298]

And then burned by Heat

[@dtrain8530]

I want to go to the timeline where Harden never gets traded, nothing but pain

[@slimypickle19]

"DEPTH" is the key word of the entire video. It's true, Curry has had the most depth to work with in NBA history, & yet people want to put him above Magic. KD & Russ accomplished a great deal for what they had, & I'm glad you pointed out the injury seasons in 2013 & 2015.

[@jaylock9twenty5]

Like Magic didn’t have Kareem, Worthy, Byron Scott, Michael Cooper, and host of other good role players 🙄

[@Will4all85]

Every all time player has had a stacked team at some point

[@potats5916]

This vid ain’t even about curry how u still hating lmao

[@spider-man120]

Lmao, brings up magic when he maybe the most stacked team ever.

[@Dr._is_sleepy]

Magic had a GOAT candidate, a two way great with a clutch gene for days, a DPOY of the bench, and a bunch of two way all-time role players.

[@scottbrayton9484]

The thing people get wrong about Harden is that he plays really well in the playoffs, he isn't a bad playoff player. He specifically disappears in important playoff scenarios. He will ball out for the first few games of a series before he goes ghost.

[@ronmangoba]

17:19 Well KD and LeBron did got a finals rematch..... That is when after Durant left OKC and joined the Warriors in the 2016 offsesson and defeated the Cavs twice back to back with KD winning 2 rings.

[@spider-man120]

Crazy stat. The warriors only won one 4th quarter against the thunder that series and it was game 6.

[@zaquarviousgaffney367]

If I was to rewrite history I'll make 2011-12 Thunder team wins the finals

[@niltash4ever]

Leave it to Skip to call that 2012 Thunder team the “Baby Thunder” just because he wants to minimize Lebron’s win over them. They were a good team and best many great teams along the way.

[@urbaindelva7869]

Meanwhile, Skip's Spurs won three of their championships against very weak teams, one of them in a lockout-shortened season, but he never talks about that.

[@AirRusher1992]

2012 maybe the biggest heartbreaker since they reached the NBA Finals but for me the biggest one is 2016 simply because they blew a 3-1 series lead against the 73-win Warriors only needed 48 minutes (at least in regulation) 3 separate times for a return trip to the NBA Finals.

[@sonicmeansspeed8614]

11:13 man, Kennard’s solid, don’t do him like that.

[@mh-rl4sz]

Could you made video about players who were factor x in finales, like Miller was mention in this video, like Shane Battier 18 points vs Spurs all 3 pointers, or like Lakers Rondo vs heat game Game 6 where he had 19 pts, 4 rebs, 4 asts, and some other facor x players.

[@benjonesthe3rd200]

I think after the Elbow from Ron Artest Harden immediately started his changing teams streak like crazy , I think the elbow was basically Antonio Brown’s hit from Pac-Man Jones that started slowly spiraling his career

[@why-km6lo]

It wasn't Pac-Man who hit AB

[@Joserom100]

Me rewatching this in 2024. "I am ready to be hurt again."

[@diquandaniel7953]

OKC the 2nd-3rd biggest what if of the last 20 years next to D. Rose injury and Kobe/Shaq staying a team

[@richardsonpredelus105]

Y’all do the 2011 Bulls

[@damion1011]

To be fair there was a TON luxury tax implications if they resigned harden. It would have been ALOT more than just 2 million per year

[@clovergraal6685]

Nah bc tell me why I was on the bus this morning think about how the thunder didn’t win a single chip with so much talent 🤔

[@Joswag]

1998 Jazz are obviously one of these teams The 90s Magic are also in the discussion

[@lakernation26]

This thunder team is our generations Orlando magic. I wouldn’t say jazz because they was older when they went to back to back finals

[@cjcolehour2778]

okc wins that championship, they form a dynasty.

[@monsterzinc9423]

Honestly I wasn’t watching basketball at the time so I didn’t even know OKC Thunder existed till the finals that year was on 😂

[@SpiderGang56]

I have a suggestion for this series, the 2009 Denver Nuggets pls

[@robingronwald7993]

Imagine the hype if they stayed in Seattle

[@YankeesLife]

Rumor has it that Seattle put a curse on the team when they left for OKC. There’s a whole video on it too.

[@Youralwayswhining4367]

Ron Artest needs to make a return and tune Harden up a bit.

[@thomasas4288]

Y’all should go on an episode of the deep three podcast

[@urbaindelva7869]

Depth was not the only issue they had. There were always very good on defense, but KD explained that they suffered from a lack of offense outside of himself and Russ, and looking back, he had a point. He and Russ basically carried their offense. They were never a good 3pt shooting team. Both Scott Brooks and Billy Donovan proved to be incompetent in the playoffs. They were always just a few changes short of breaking through.

[@jaredanderson53]

The 2012 Thunder, the 2018 Rockets, and the 2021 Nets... Harden has been a part of 3 of the best teams to never win a championship. Had he stuck with one of these cores for longer, he would have had a ring.

[@TheBlaqSpiderman]

RIP Windham Rotunda aka Bray Wyatt

[@xKingofHearts87x]

Nah as a Lakers fan that Thunder series pissed me off we let that one slip away I was heated.

[@gicz9419]

Great episode 🔥

[@wasthataspongebobreference533]

It’s sad (and also amazing) that the greatest thing this team accomplished was the “Mom Made Pizza Rolls” meme instead

[@Robertgilbert2204]

“Thats a bad role player” 😂😂😂

[@willvintage3505]

One of my favorite sports images was the results of a poll before the 2012 Finals started on who each states wanted to win. Only 2 states wanted Miami to win; Florida and Washington. The Blunder aren't winning shit until we get our team back

[@renzoenzo7535]

2017 OKC C - Adams PF - Horford/Sabonis SF - KD SG - Oladipo PG - Russ

[@EashwarKantemneniiamawesome]

KD and Russ literally ended Kobe and Tim Duncan's playoff careers. Crazy

[@HB-ih9qp]

everybody can say oh yea they never won a chip like winning a chip is easy.....mind they were only together 3 MF YEARS. respect the game

[@plugcap2604]

Russ and kd was really carrying them teams , I know that had to be exhausted

[@emilli0077]

The way okc was beating on golden state, I thought it was over for them 😂😂

[@TheCalvinCoCo]

Seeing how you guys are WWE fans, how bout a wwe/NBA star comparison vid. Who’s the John Cena of the NBA? Lol

[@jubomalseeco3117]

arguable goat with rabid fans and even more rabid detractors? Beloved by the company and casuals but maligned by old heads and die hards? The John Cena of the NBA is LeBron. But I do agree that this is a great concept.

[@littlerockdoc3183]

As a spurs fan, I can't tell you how much I utterly despised this thunder team.

[@xavierjones6687]

🔥 🔥 🔥

[@CantBanOmar]

I don’t think the cramp was played up, As a man that lives in Miami that summer heat + the humidity is the setup for the worst cramps ever! And during that finals the American Airlines arena had prolly one of the most cooked air conditioning systems in the whole league 🥵🥵

[@jaredanderson53]

If they kept Harden, they win a hand full of rings. The warriors dynasty doesn't happen. And there's a debate about the best player of the decade between durant and lebron.

[@urbaindelva7869]

I see them winning two rings, but not a handful. If they had stayed together, they would not have stopped the Warriors's rise to prominence, but they probably would've prevented their dynasty.

[@diegoblanco5199]

Please make a video on Barkleys suns

[@brayancatano136]

Need a podcast ASAP

[@richardnelson26]

Now looking back on it, I truly forgot Harden was on the team during that 2012 Finals.

[@vulcanraven9701]

because he was terrible

[@DeeKAAM]

Mark cuban comment was actually a tactic to split kd N russ I think it worked

[@SeraphimTwo]

Durant🐍

[@TorontoWire]

This was Karma on Oklahoma for stealing Seattle's team. I got the receipts.

[@THERobertL2000]

Seattle's team AND history. 💯

[@thesilencer3156]

Leave now would’ve been way different if they won!

[@malachideleon-gil3720]

The Thunder r the definition of a gatekeeping team. Good enough to eliminate others from titles hopes but not having enough to push themselves to that top spot

[@emmanuelcanete3700]

Just thinking in a world where the okc had the duo of harden and kd instead of russ and kd. Would they have been just as successful or more

[@TheeKingRayzor]

*@Synthetic Sports* Hello guys, What are three NBA documentaries you recommend for news fans?

[@spaceymcgrady1]

Guess we need the 67 win spurs team next

[@spider-man120]

They said they wouldn’t do that because they did win a championship before.

[@thacool101]

So when you guys making a wrestling channel?

[@nvm9040]

Harden had a good career with OKC but if he stayed? Would he have developed like how he went to Houston?

[@cerebralfanatic]

KD proved he never had the heart to win in the first place when he joined the team that eliminated them even though they were leading the series @ one point All the talent in the world but if you don't got the heart it's probably not gonna happen

[@Nickgonelie]

Give them another two years together and they would’ve won a championship.

[@d.luvevo711]

Not mentioning LeBron fouling KD in Game 2 of the Finals is crazy ngl

[@nomercyinc6783]

efficiency doesnt matter if your team wins. the game isnt about individual stats

[@GOATFam-bh5lf]

MAKE ONE ABOUT THE BAD BOY PISTONS

[@leeartlee915]

I use to be sad that the Blazers skipped Durant… but when I saw that weak ass move of him joining the 73 win Warriors, the sting got taken out of it a bit.

[@MusicLover-my6fo]

To be fair, Kevin Durant did say that seeing the Warriors lose in game 7 to the Cavaliers made him feel like the Warriors needed him. Assuming the Warriors won, he probably would've stayed in OKC, or he would've gone to either the Celtics, Spurs, Clippers or Heat. And besides, would you really want to live in Oklahoma when you could live in California?

[@Janon743]

Uh, no thanks. Urban California isn’t a desirable place to live imo. I’ll pass on paying 8 dollars for a gallon of gas

[@aguy4823]

​@@Janon743as if durant cares about 8 dollars lol

[@peri7057]

How about the 2016 Warriors?

[@17thN.O]

James Harden fans blame Doc Rivers for James Harden's struggles in the 2012 finals loss.

[@frederickdelius1106]

I still want someone to do a deep dive on the finals and see if lebron was given this one.

[@Mula_Music]

I find it hilarious klay plays out of his mind in 1 game 6 and plays 💩 in all the others and people are like “game 6 klay”😂

[@spider-man120]

He’s had amazing game 6’s. It’s mostly when they’re down 3-2 and he’s clutch.

[@borisklock1813]

Wasn't the Lebron cramp game game 1 of 2014??

[@MFCHYLL]

Harden shouldn’t have gotten money-hungry. They probably would have been back in the Finals the next season had he not have left for money.

[@billdover3165]

Let's be honest, the reason the Oklahoma City Thunder didn't win is really because LeBron James and the Miami Heat we're getting some of the most insane calls that benefited them. I think the Miami Heat in game 2 after the Thunder won the first game the foul shots that the Miami Heat had outnumbered the Thunder somewhere in the ranger like 30 or 40 more than them. And most of them were just bull crap foul calls. They were so bad that it gave the 2000 Lakers versus Kings game a straight-up chub and made it blush.

[@flyingblasian1352]

Nah, the 2012 Thunder were great, but they get swept by a healthy 2019 Warriors team. Prime Steph, Prime Klay, Prime KD, Prime Draymond, and a half-decent DMC clears easily.

[@ceebee312]

Only one really outta that team, that earned their ring from another team was… Serge Ibaka !

[@shadhinov]

The west was stacked.

[@trevv1747]

You wrong bro.. it's the 2002 Sacramento Kings