The Oklahoma City Thunder are back in Las Vegas for another December trip. They punched their ticket to the 2025 NBA Cup semifinals with a blowout win over the Phoenix Suns. They will now face the San Antonio Spurs with a spot in the championship game on the line.

Out East, the Orlando Magic and New York Knicks will square off. The NBA Cup might be NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s most bold idea yet. Three years in, and it’s produced mixed results. At best, it’s a novel accolade to have. At worst, it’s a schedule hindrance for teams that reach this point.

Nonetheless, the Thunder will get a chance to add another trophy to their stacked trophy case. But should they go all out? Here are five reasons why OKC should care about the NBA Cup:

Cross off bucket list

Not even two decades into their existence, the Thunder have experienced every possible high. They’ve had three MVP winners in their history and won an NBA championship last year. Between that, there’s a long list of decorated players with All-Star and All-NBA nods.

The one thing they haven’t done yet, though, is win the NBA Cup. The in-season tournament is only three years old, but the Thunder will get a chance to collect the trophy after falling just shy last year.

That could be another bucket list item this group can cross off. The Thunder have accelerated from a rebuild to an all-time team. Adding more to their mythos, a second championship banner drop this season would be unprecedented.

Last year revenge

As said, the Thunder fell just shy of an NBA Cup championship. They lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in last year’s final. And while the 83rd game was invisible to their record, it had to have stung as a competitor to lose by double-digit points and only put up 81 points.

Especially to a Bucks team that turned out to be a disaster. If you reach the championship game, you might as well go all out. The Thunder have had a difficult time finding bulletin board material this season as the reigning NBA champion that everybody picks to repeat.

This could be the rare case where they do get some extra motivation. We’ll see how much the NBA Cup matters down the line, but for now, they should try to win it just so they can say they completed that task like getting a 100% completion rate in a video game.

A step closer to a triple crown

After one of the greatest seasons ever, the Thunder have one-upped themselves. What they’ve done through the first quarter of the season is NBA history. They’re tied with the 2015-16 Warriors for best record through 25 games at 24-1.

Except this time, it’s a little more impressive. A plus-17.4 point differential is a gaudy number. No other team has dominated on the scoreboard as loudly as OKC. They’ve had more total minutes this season with a 20-plus point lead than trailing. Read that again.

That Golden State squad had an NBA-record 73-9 record. Noise that OKC can break that only grows louder. If they can also win the NBA Cup and another Larry O’Brien trophy within the same season, that’ll be a triple crown year that no other team has come close to pulling off.

Money

Money makes the world go round. The NBA Cup’s grand prize is a financial one. The winning team sees each player on the roster receive $530K. The runner-up gets $212K per player. The semifinal losers get $106K per player.

That’s a decent chunk of change for these NBA players. Even those on supermax contracts. Chet Holmgren has embraced the cash on the line. Last year, Jaylin Williams’ egging on his OKC teammates to go all out was one of the Las Vegas storylines.

While fans likely don’t care if millionaires get an extra half-million in time for Christmas, NBA players certainly do. Which should segue over to a competitive atmosphere that resembles closer to a playoff game than your average regular season outing.

No games off

No championship hangover in OKC. If anything, the Thunder woke up extra early to go jogging. They’re off to a historic start that has many wondering if they’re the next NBA dynasty. While those talks are a bit premature, how they’ve handled business so far has been impressive.

The Thunder are the NBA’s best defense. They beat you up at all three levels. If you’re nonchalant with the ball, they’ll rip it away from you. There are no weak points on this OKC roster you can attack. That type of floor eliminates the risk of a scheduled loss or bad-effort performance.

It’s a contagious attitude throughout the roster. If the Thunder bring their regular level of energy to Las Vegas, then the NBA will be happy with what they show on the national stage, as it hopes the NBA Cup can become a cultural fixture for future generations.