The Thunder have been a championship favorite all year. Now, the Knicks are emerging as potentially their closest foe.

The NBA announced on Monday the 20 officials and four alternate referees who will work the Eastern and Western Conference Finals during the 2025-26 playoffs.

The Oklahoma City beat the Denver Nuggets on Sunday to advance to the Conference Finals, where they will take on the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Thunder were easily the best team in the NBA all season and are the favoirtes to win the NBA Finals, and are led by MVP frontrunner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

For the first time in nearly a decade, the OKC Thunder is headed to the Western Conference finals. To get there, it took surviving the Denver Nuggets.

Anthony Edwards has grown so much. If he can shine against the Thunder, the Timberwolves should go to the NBA Finals.

Oklahoma City hasn’t been to the NBA Finals since 2012, when Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook led the way into a matchup with Miami in a series that saw LeBron James win his first championship.

For all the misconstruing that happens in these NBA Playoffs, Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets brought out the OKC Thunder team Mark Daigneault recognized.