Oklahoma City

When an NBA team was ripped out of Seattle and plopped into the middle of a city that never before had a major league franchise, it was one of the more extraordinary developments in the recent history of professional sports.

The idea of bringing the NBA to Oklahoma City in 2008 made as much sense as building an igloo in the desert. The Thunder then weren’t today’s Thunder. They hadn’t settled on their name, for one thing, and their best players hadn’t become the astounding talents they are now. Their executives had little experience. Their fans had even less. The team’s practice center was a converted roller-skating rink. This was as close to a startup as anything in modern sports.

Eight years later, and after a trip to the NBA Finals in 2012, the early buzz about the Thunder has all but disappeared. The attention of the basketball world has shifted to the can’t-miss Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs and the can’t-look-away Cleveland Cavaliers.

And yet the Thunder remain perhaps the only other team in the playoffs that can realistically win the title. If they survive the Dallas Mavericks in the first round—the series is tied 1-1 with Game 3 on Thursday—the Thunder possess the shape-shifting ability to go big against the Spurs and small against the Warriors. They also have Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in their primes, and that’s enough to terrify the rest of the league.