Where the world was the last time each NBA playoff team made the Conference Finals

Oklahoma City Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder last made the Western Conference Finals in 2016. Here is a brief list of impact players who were on the Thunder team that last made a WCF appearance: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, Serge Ibaka, and a handful of reliable bench pieces. They lost to the Warriors in seven games and Durant went on to leave the Thunder and join the Warriors that offseason.

2016 gave us Leonardo DiCaprio finally winning an Oscar, Amazon using drone deliveries, and Pokemon Go making us all want to run around town "catching them all." Much like the intro to the Pokemon theme song, "I want to be the very best," the Thunder were the very best team in the Western Conference this year, securing the one seed for the playoffs. The Thunder are young but incredibly well-balanced and dangerous. They currently lead the Pelicans 3-0.

Phoenix Suns (eliminated)

The Phoenix Suns last made the Western Conference Finals in 2021. The Suns would go on to beat the Clippers in six games to make the Finals, ultimately losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in six. Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal have immense pressure to succeed as the Suns fully bought in on them this season, going against the grain of NBA teams relieving cap space.

This was the year of the blockchain as NFTs appeared everywhere, countries adopted Bitcoin as currency, and movie theaters and sports arenas allowed ticket purchases with cryptocurrencies. Seeing as though the essence of the blockchain is "decentralization," the Phoenix Suns should adopt decentralizing their offense and focus more on ball movement over their current individualistic approach between their big three.