There is no greater team rivalry in NBA history than the one shared by the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. Tied for a league-leading 17 championships each, the two franchises have been battling it out for league supremacy for the entirety of NBA history. After that, you have rivalries like Celtics-76ers, Pistons-Bulls, Bulls-Knicks, Heat-Knicks, Spurs-Lakers, and Warriors-Cavaliers battling it out for second place. The league’s history is littered with rivalries and for the most part, they get talked about.
However, there is one rivalry that seems to get overlooked by the masses.: Rockets-Thunder.
It’s a rivalry that’s extremely deep rooted and if you ask fans from both teams, there’s no mistaking it’s existence.
“The fan base has been harsh on me in particular in the past,” said Ben DuBose, a prominent Rockets fan who covers the team for USA Today Sports. “I don’t have anything personal against them. Some of the fans are a little harsh. [The rivalry] is good for the NBA.”
“I think that Thunder fans celebrate Rockets failures and I think the reverse is also true,” said Andrew Schlecht who covers the Thunder for The Athletic while maintaining his fandom like DuBose. “There’s just so many layers to it.”
But when did this rivalry start? Well, it really depends on if you believe Oklahoma City is allowed to lay claim to Seattle Supersonics history. If you are, it extends back to the ‘80s when the Sonic had single-handedly prevented the Rockets from making several deep playoff runs. Sure it was one-sided, but like Rockets-Warriors in the 2010s, the individual games and series were closer than one might remember.
But fans from all parties (Rockets, Thunder, and Supersonics) largely don’t acknowledge the shared heritage - even if the NBA technically does. So let’s just go with Thunder-Rockets. Where does this rivalry begin?
2012 - James Harden traded to the Rockets
No surprise here. Not only was this the trade that forged this rivalry, it’s arguably the trade that forged the 2010s. It opened the title contention window for Houston. It solidified GM Daryl Morey’s reputation as a lead decision maker - which gave several prominent league executives opportunities for other franchises (Sam Hinkie, Dennis Lindsey, Monte McNair, Gersson Rosas, Arturas Karnisovas, Sachin Gupta, and Rafael Stone). It gave birth to “The Process'' in Philadelphia. And most importantly for this discussion - it launched James Harden’s career and arguably torpedoed a potential dynasty in Oklahoma City.
It likely influenced Kevin Durant’s decision to eventually leave Oklahoma City and join the Golden State Warriors in 2016. Even if you believe the Harden trade didn’t play a part in Durant’s decision, it did play a part in the Thunder’s success. If they win a championship without Harden before 2016, perhaps Durant stays? Who knows.
The point is that this trade ties both franchises at the hip for a decade. Additionally, the Rockets never become good enough for this to become a rivalry without Harden. They were toiling away in mediocrity for three consecutive seasons before executing this trade. Thunder fans despise mention of this trade. Not only does it dredge up an unhappy memory, but the franchise has largely been one of the NBA’s best-run organizations and instead of praise, they have to wear this trade around as a scarlet letter.
And then layers and layers get packed onto the rivalry.
2013 - The Patrick Beverley and Russell Westbrook incident
This wasn’t fun to witness in person, nor is it fun to revisit. Even the most ardent defenders of Patrick Beverley (myself included) will admit that swiping for the ball after a dead ball like this is unnecessary. However, it’s also true that this happens all the time in basketball and seldom does it cause a meniscus tear. It’s not like Beverley was trying to hurt Westbrook. At the time, the response to this incident wasn’t exactly measured. Beverley became public enemy number one in Oklahoma City and a bit of a pariah nationally.
It’s not unreasonable to suggest that this incident prevented Oklahoma City from reaching the NBA Finals again. The Thunder won 60 games that season, had the best offense in basketball, and were defensively locked in at a level we hadn’t seen from them before. They were neck-and-neck with the Heat for being the best team in the NBA that season. At the very least, they would have reached the conference finals and made the Spurs sweat a lot more than the Grizzlies did that year.
But this was important because it sparked the Beverley-Westbrook feud that was ever-present during every Rockets-Thunder matchup in the 2010s.
2016 - MVP duel between James Harden and Russell Westbrook
It’s not worth bothering to relitigate this debate. Suffice to say that Rockets and Thunder fans were at each other’s throats over this and it’s still an open wound. It’s probably the peak of their fanbase’s rivalry on the internet. To this day, Rockets fans feel an MVP was stolen from James Harden. And though Westbrook was very good, it’s worth noting that the voter pool seemingly changed their long-held requirements for this award overnight.
Traditionally, this award had gone to the best player on one of the best teams in the NBA. The only players that fell within this description that season were Harden and Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard. Instead, the award went to the best player on a 47-win team. This MVP will probably remain a historical anomaly for a very long time.
2017 - Playoff series between Rockets and Thunder
This was a series billed to be the battle of the MVPs, but it ended pretty one-sidedly. The Rockets defeated the Thunder 4 games to 1. Going into the series, it seemed like people were willing to agree that this series would tell us who the rightful award winner should be once and for all (unrelated - this was a foolish premise), but coming out, that was far from the reaction. Instead of “Harden defeats Westbrook”, the narrative was “Harden’s supporting cast reigns supreme, as expected”. It was a perfect encapsulation of the season: Westbrook was lauded for his excellent counting stats and Harden was dismissed despite very good counting stats, better efficiency, and greater team success.
This furthered the rift between Rockets fans and Thunder fans.
2017 - Rockets trade for Chris Paul. Thunder trade for Paul George and Carmelo Anthony.
After acquiring the best available free agent (Chris Paul via opt-and-trade), it seemed like there was another shoe left to drop for the Rockets. In fact, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst went on television and said the Rockets had immediately turned their attention towards acquiring either Pacers forward or Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony. Instead, the Oklahoma City Thunder managed to acquire both players in separate trades, preventing Houston from forming a “Big 3” that summer. They still had a fantastic offseason, but like the MVP-race the season before, Oklahoma City managed to steal their thunder (no pun intended).
Additionally, the two teams were pitted against each other that offseason, with talking heads debating who had the better offseason.
2019 - Rockets trade for Russell Westbrook
Skipping past the irony of this trade, Houston objectively did terribly here. And now the Rockets and Thunder will be linked together until the picks and pick swaps from this trade finish conveying. Seven years after the initial James Harden trade, Sam Presti finally got one over on Daryl Morey. Oklahoma City later transitioned into a rebuild while Houston imploded.
And just as Oklahoma City fans were about to enjoy the fruits of their labor, the Rockets got the second overall pick in the 2021 NBA lottery, triggering protections that allowed them to keep their pick. They only had 50-50 odds of doing so, further frustrating Thunder fans.
2021 - Rockets acquire Alperen Sengun from Thunder
In a bizarre move (even at the time), Oklahoma City traded the rights to Turkish center Alperen Sengun to Houston in exchange for two heavily protected first round picks. This move further connected the Rockets and Thunder together. If Sengun becomes more than a role player in the NBA, the Thunder will have to deal with the repercussions of this trade for years to come. As Rockets fans root for Sengun to reach his potential, Thunder fans will be rooting just as hard for him not to.
2022 - Thunder acquire Ousmane Dieng
Most fans may not have even made the connection of this trade back to the Rockets, but it’s there. It’s pretty simple actually. The Thunder used the picks they acquired from Houston in the Alperen Sengun trade the year before to trade for 11th overall pick Ousmane Dieng. Dieng is an intriguing 6’10” ball handling wing prospect from the NBL that some believe has untapped star potential. The Thunder are clearly one of those teams as not only did they trade those two protected first rounders, they included a third one.
Oklahoma City is essentially betting that Dieng will be a more impactful NBA player than Sengun. And by adding another pick, they’re doubling down on that bet. It’s a hell of a gamble on player development as Dieng is an extremely raw prospect with a ton of risk. His ceiling is purely theoretical right now. Of course, bets like this have worked out for teams before and two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo is a prime example of that.
It’s not like Houston doesn’t have skin in the game either. They could have executed this very trade or something else had they chosen to wait on trading those picks. But they were willing to bet that Sengun’s ceiling is higher than what those picks would net. And those picks netted Dieng. Yet again, the Rockets and Thunder are tied at the hip.
It’ll be interesting to come back to these transactions in a few years and see how both of these teams fare with their wagers.
The rest of the 2020s
Much like after the Harden trade, we know for a fact that the Rockets and Thunder will be rivals for the foreseeable future. There’s just too many things connecting the two teams. The upcoming picks and swaps Houston owes to the Thunder are just the tip of the iceberg. Sengun versus Dieng is a nice under-the-radar battle that both organizations and fan bases should be invested in. And perhaps most importantly: the two organizations are on the same timeline.
The Rockets and Thunder are both extremely young and bad at the same time. They’ve already competed against each other in two lotteries, but since neither team is set to be good, they’ll probably compete against each other in another one next year. Because they’ve both done a good job at building out their respective asset chests, they’ll likely compete for the same trade-targets in the future. And most importantly, since both organizations seem to be well-run, they’ll probably be title contenders at the same time - opening the door for more series against each other.
It’s truly remarkable. After a decade-long rivalry, the basketball gods have managed to link these two teams together for another decade. Hopefully more national attention is given to this rivalry, but in the meantime, both fan bases are aware of it. And that’s probably more than enough shared passion to drive the 2020s.