What the Oklahoma City Thunder and ‘77 Trail Blazers have in common

The NBA Finals start Thursday night and will feature a team with something in common with the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers, the only team to bring a championship to Rip City.

The Oklahoma City Thunder enter their series with the Indiana Pacers as the second youngest team in NBA history to reach the Finals.

The youngest? The 1977 Blazers.

That team had an average age of 25.03 years compared to 25.6 for the Thunder.

The Blazers had just one player with more than five years of experience entering the season, Herm Gilliam with seven.

Average age of OKC players: 25.6 years young

The Thunder are the 2nd youngest team in the last 70 years to make the

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, only behind Bill Walton and the 1976-77 Trail Blazers! 🤯

Game 1 vs. Indiana: Thursday, June 5 at 8:30pm/et on ABC

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The Blazers’ top four players were certainly young by NBA championship roster standards.

Center Bill Walton and forward Maurice Lucas were in their third seasons in the NBA. Guard Lionel Hollins and forward Bobby Gross were in their second seasons.

Guard Dave Twardzik and forward Larry Steele were in their fifth seasons.

The Blazers defeated Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals and Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers in the finals.

Completing such a run with a young group had dynasty written all over it. But alas, injuries to Walton, named MVP the following season, toppled the franchise’s run at winning multiple titles.

The Thunder are led by guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, named MVP this season. He is in his seventh season but is just 26.

The age at which players enter the NBA is a big difference in the eras. Gilgeous-Alexander played one year at Kentucky and Thunder forward Chet Holmgren, in his third NBA season, played one season at Gonzaga. Jalen Williams, in his third NBA season, played three seasons at Santa Clara.

Walton spent four seasons at UCLA, Hollins played four years at La Salle and Lucas spent three years at Marquette.

The Thunder defeating the Pacers is not a given. Still, Oklahoma City has the potential to rattle off a couple of titles with such a young roster.

However, the Blazers of the late 1970s showed that such potential can be fleeting, especially when injuries strike.

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— Aaron Fentress |

afentress@Oregonian.com

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