Nine years of dream back to the moment! The glorious moment of thunder!

Although the team lost 42 points in the third match of the Western Conference Finals, the Thunder still lost only one game in this round of series. With a 4-1 score, the Timberwolves, who defeated two traffic teams of Huyong in the first two rounds, returned to reality: they are still some distance away from the finals.

For the Thunder, it coincidentally was that the fifth battle that concluded the Western Conference Finals was on May 28 local time, and the same day nine years ago was also a significant battle for the Thunder. Starting from today nine years ago, the Thunder went through a rather difficult reconstruction process. The team's direction was forced to adjust. After various efforts, it finally grew into the top team in the league in the past two years.

Nine years of dreams, May 28, 2016, are extremely important time points for the Warriors and the Thunder. In this Thunder's sixth battle against the Warriors, Klay Thompson wrote a classic, wrote the Warriors' miracle, and changed the Thunder's future.

Looking back at this game, Lei Yong and his team tied with a 3 minutes and 42 seconds, and the Thunder led by 37 minutes and 45 seconds in the whole game, far exceeding the Warriors' lead by 6 minutes and 33 seconds. Since Ibaka's three-pointer overtake in the middle of the first quarter, the Thunder maintained the lead all the way. He was tied for a while in the third quarter but did not fall behind. Until he was chased by Clay's outside three-pointer in the fourth quarter, Curry helped the Warriors tie the score. In the last 1 minute and 35 seconds, Clay made a three-pointer in the conversion, helping the Warriors take a second lead after surrendering themselves. The Thunder side failed to score in the last 142 seconds, and finally could only watch victory slip away.

This is a miracle battle belonging to Klay Thompson, and it scored a 41-pointer in the playoffs so far, including 6 of 9 shots in the fourth quarter, 5 of 6 three-pointers, and 19 points alone. With him alone, the number of goals and scores in the fourth quarter exceeded that of the Thunder.

The Thunder took the lead and was tied after the sixth game, missing the best opportunity to overturn the arrogant 73-win Warriors. In the final seventh game, the Thunder was reversed in the third quarter while leading the first half, becoming the first team to be reversed 3-1 in the division final. The Thunder was unfortunately eliminated, while the Warriors did not end the epic 73-win season early.

For Thunder, the most disappointing thing is more than that. Durant became a free agent in the offseason. Because the parent team had no advantage under the salary regulations at that time, Durant did not choose to continue moving forward with the Thunder. After a statement that fans were completely unacceptable, Durant airborne the Warriors, who defeated himself that year but was eventually turned over in the finals, and the Universe was officially released.

This four-star Warriors swept the league and won two consecutive championships in 2017-18 in almost unrivaled. It was not until Durant suffered a serious injury to the Achilles tendon in 2019 that the Warriors' hegemony was terminated. After losing Durant, the Thunder will never return to their former glory. Westbrook took the lead in the 2016-17 season and completed an epic triple-double season to win the MVP.

But the formation originally built with Durant was naturally not something Westbrook could support alone. Later, after a short period of chasing the giant group, the Thunder finally decided to enter the reconstruction after dealing with George and Westbrook in 2019.

From the perspective of the butterfly effect, if the Thunder were not knocked back by Clay nine years ago, they would have a high chance of challenging the championship. Even if they failed, it might increase the probability of Durant staying in the team. If Adu stayed in the team, he would naturally not have the later Cosmic Brave, and there might not be any incident in Pachulia's footsteps in 2017. The latter might not have had conflicts with the Spurs during his recovery period. If Leonard did not transfer, he would not have had the first championship in the Raptors' team history. Many major events in the NBA may be rewritten because of this.

Just from the Thunder, if Adu chooses to stay in the team, based on the league's atmosphere at that time, as long as he has passed the period of sharp increase in salary space, and referring to the subsequent large contracts for players such as Adams, he is likely to continue to renew his main players with high salaries. In the process, the Thunder replaced Ibaka with Oladipo and Sabonis, which was also the bargaining chip that later won George.

shows that Presti does have the determination to continue to strengthen the lineup. The Thunder may not have to go through that embarrassing day of fighting in the first round of the playoffs. A team that can bring the biggest threat to the Peak Warriors is perhaps only a slight gap between 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals and the championship.

The only difference is that if Westbrook had not replaced Paul and George to trade the Clippers with a lot of draft picks, referring to Durant's still stable situation in recent years, if he had not suffered an Achilles tendon injury, the Thunder would have a high chance of rebuilding as long as Durant holds Durant, and naturally there would not be a high pick, nor would they get the team of Alexander, Jewish, Homgren, and Josh Giddy in exchange for Caruso.

In short, besides the above assumptions, it is certain that without the old disputes in 2016, the Thunder would definitely not be what it is now. It is possible that Dewey will win the championship after making a comeback, and it may be far from the current new Thunder Three Young Master.

Especially from the trading line of Ibaka, he exchanged for Oladipo and Sa. Although the Thunder did not train the two of them successfully, the Thunder exchanged for George. The latter exchanged for MVP Alexander and Jewish who had already realized the value of the lottery, and there were up to 6 first rounds in the next two years. Even if the Thunder did not rise successfully this year, it is still very likely that they will continue to replenish new combat power in the past two years.

Although it cannot be said that the success of Thunder today began nine years ago, it still has some roots. If it weren't for the defeat sent by Clay nine years ago, the Thunder might not have embraced the current championship lineup, or were still digesting the veteran time of Dewey Second Young Master, or had already dealt with these veteran stars before they began to rebuild. Whether they can take advantage of the situation in the past two years may have to put a big question mark..

Back to the Thunder this season, in addition to praising Alexander for growing stronger than expected, the most important thing is that the high picks in their hands can quickly realize their potential and be able to play their value and strengths on a high-intensity battlefield.

Therefore, compared to other companies in the league, when they began to make some operations on the salary structure, the Thunder now has the biggest advantage. Javier and Homgren, two of the three main players in the team, are still in the rookie contract. This matter is extremely important to the Thunder. The reason why the third young master of Thunder broke up last time was that Harden's expected offer at the time made the Thunder unacceptable, and he finally chose Ibaka, who seemed relatively cheap at the time. The third young master of Thunder only played in the 2012 finals and broke up hastily without getting a chance to make a comeback.

But now, the Thunder are standing on the floor of the finals and don’t have to consider salary pressure. With the dividends of the two rookie, the team was able to grab Harten in the free market with an unexpected offer and form a strong team to compete for the championship this year.

Of course, the Thunder's test is also coming. Homgren and Jewe, who joined in 2022, need to discuss renewal of contracts this year's offseason. On the premise of playing playoff results this year, Jewe is selected as the All-Star and the Best Team, the Thunder must open their account again under normal market conditions. Including both of them receive high salaries, referring to the market conditions of Mobri, Cunningham and others last season, new contracts will be started in the 2026-27 season, and the Thunder will face a high pressure situation of at least 130 million for the three main players, just like most championship teams.

The Thunder's contract renewal is thinking about whether Hartten's team option of 28.5 million and Dort's 18.22 million will be implemented in the 2026-27 season. It seems that Hartten is more important at present. After all, the Thunder has renewed Caruso, and Wallace, who still has a rookie contract, can replace Dort. With the expectation that Alexander and the Thunder will continue to renew contracts, it will be until the 2027-28 season that the Thunder will have a tight salary structure.

However, the Thunder will have 8 first and 12 second rounds in the next five years, and many of the signings are traded, so they will not be affected by their good record. In the past few years, under the current salary regulations, whether it is to use this large number of draft picks to package existing contracts to buy combat power, or to find other rookies to fill the gaps, it is an operational choice.

But the Thunder must also face the situation that the Warriors had in the past few years. If the team chooses to start competing for the championship now, they will inevitably have to make a choice. Such a deal in Gidi's previous trade in Caruso. After Gidi shines in the Bulls this season, although Caruso does help the Thunder get closer to the championship, Gidi's future value can still surpass Caruso's unilateral attributes.

Looking back at the Thunder during this period, they did not have any failed operations. The above-mentioned Xiao Sa used the method of using it, or treated Bertans last season, etc. However, among the recent championship teams, they will face the problem that the main lineup cannot be maintained. In comparison, the Thunder has sufficient operational flexibility.

The Thunder nine years ago took a completely different path because of the victory or defeat of a game. Nine years later, the Thunder became the leader of the West and retained enough space for the future. We should indeed admire Presti's trading, and we should also affirm the growth of Alexander, Jewish, and Homgren, as well as the new coach Dagent's plan. The Thunder's test is coming, but compared to the difficulties faced by other opponents, the Thunder is relatively relaxed.

Now, looking back at the Lei Yong Battle nine years ago, maybe there was no defeat and the bitter fruits in the middle, we would not have seen the Thunder nine years later show such great abilities. Now, they have once again come to the finals. As for whether they can break the old record, it depends on these young people, but unlike the last time, their chances are much greater this time.