The Astrology of the 2025 NBA Finals
We once again look to the stars — and maybe a few numbers, too — to explain this championship-worthy Thunder-Pacers matchup.
🏀 Note: This story was a collaboration with Michelle Grodnick of 4th House Astrology — be sure to check out her website (book a reading!), follow her on Instagram and subscribe to her Substack to read more of her work.
Welcome to NBA Finals week! Because Neil had so much fun mixing his (admittedly limited) astrological knowledge with his basketball databases for this ESPN piece about playoff horoscope readings ahead of the conference finals, he is now enlisting the help of an actual expert — professional astrologer Michelle Grodnick — to dig even deeper into what the stars may hold for the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers over the next few weeks. Michelle specializes in natal charts, which focus on the positions of stars and planets when a person was born, so she did a series of readings for the major players — and even the franchises! — of this series, while Neil looked into the numbers to help frame how those cosmic patterns might play out on the court.
🏀 A Finals Written in the Stars
Two major astrological events occur during the NBA Finals that are signatures of global shifts in 2025. First, Jupiter — the planet of expansion, abundance and growth, which has been in the sign of Gemini for the last year — is moving into Cancer between Games 2 and 3. The second is that Saturn, the planet of rules, authority and discipline, along with Neptune, the planet of disillusionment, dreams and spirituality, have both moved into Aries.
What does this mean on the hardwood? Jupiter transits can reward different attributes, so studying the planet’s zodiacal shifts can help us understand what kind of behavior will be more prominent on the winning stage.
For the past year, Jupiter in Gemini has been rewarding players who are jacks-of-all-trades. Players in the modern NBA need to be and do a little of everything, and the days of being a one-position player are behind us. A key marker of Gemini is its ability to be flexible and adaptable, so since May 26, 2024, it’s been all about spacing the floor and playing with five interchangeable pieces, basically– everyone must be impactful across the board in order to be successful. Indeed, both OKC and Indy have a core of players who blur positional lines — every playoff regular1 on either team, except Myles Turner (C) and T.J. McConnell (PG) for the Pacers and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (PG) and Isaiah Hartenstein (C) for the Thunder, has spent time at multiple spots — plus pass and defend across roles, and contribute in multiple phases of the game.
But on June 9, Jupiter will transit into the sign of Cancer, which is a completely different energy. Cancer is the archetype of the mother – it’s a nurturing leader that brings everyone together. Cancer isn’t about being quick and agile, it’s about being patient and lifting up your teammates. This year, Jupiter brings its rewards to the teams that act as a family. The importance of team leadership and players who serve as caretakers for the rest of the team will be lifted into stardom. We see that especially in this OKC team: SGA’s postgame interviews are marked by his whole team surrounding him, and we know that they are close like family.
Meanwhile, for the first time since the 1700s, Saturn and Neptune are together in the sign of the athlete: Aries. This is exemplifying a time where we are over-idealizing physical discipline and hard work – when being competitive risks dissociation to the point where players may lose themselves. Bold, brash risk-taking is being lauded on the global scale, and the role that athletes play during this period will be impactful on a larger societal level. While we are always looking for the next Michael Jordan, with people obsessing over, say, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards’ potential to take on that mantle, Minnesota was just dismissed by Oklahoma City in 5 games with SGA decisively outplaying Ant.
This feels like it might represent the much-needed death of the traditional GOAT archetype, as we are thrust into redefining the role of the ego in gameplay. Expect the new-age stars to rise through facilitation and playmaking instead of ball-dominant iso-scoring.2 In 2025, the whole of a championship team is greater than the sum of its parts. That’s why we’re seeing a Thunder-Pacers Finals instead of Timberwolves-Knicks.
Now, let’s dive into our readings for each team, to see what the fates of OKC and Indiana might hold.
🏀 Oklahoma City Thunder
In their current incarnation, the OKC Thunder were born on October 29, 2008 at 7 p.m. local time (yes, even basketball teams have birth charts). Pluto, the planet of power and transformation, just entered OKC’s house of purpose, career and visibility — fitting, given the team’s move from Seattle was motivated by ambition, a desire for reinvention, and the pursuit of political power in a booming city eager to prove itself on the national stage. Fast-forward to 2025, and Pluto’s transit is signaling a major moment of transformation in the franchise, as it is potentially rising to championship for the first time in its existence.
Additionally, as Venus enters Taurus just as the Finals are getting started (on June 6), the planet of attraction, love and money is entering OKC’s house of perception – essentially, no matter what happens, the Thunder are stepping into a new era of resonance and recognition. This is a team that the basketball world could fall in love with… but will it?
Taking a look at Gilgeous-Alexander’s birth chart, Mars, the planet of competition, athletics and aggression, will be activated by Jupiter once it moves into the sign of Cancer on June 9. This transit solidifies SGA’s leadership role as the caretaker for the team that feels like family. With his birthday coming up in July, we can pull a “Solar Return Chart”, which provides us clues for his year ahead. This chart is telling a story of major transformation: It could mark a shift in his development from a rising talent into a fully-realized superstar capable of reshaping a franchise’s destiny.
Taking a different approach, we also wanted to check out the chart of Thunder general manager Sam Presti, the mastermind who really put this team together. (Let’s not forget the infamous trade in 2019 that brought SGA to the Thunder in the first place, making the bold move of trading away Paul George to the Clippers.) Presti was experiencing what we call his ‘’Mars Return’ — when the planet of competition, aggression and strength returned back to the place where it was when he was born. This transit occurs once every 2 or so years, and it is a time of action and energy. Throughout these NBA playoffs, Mars has been back in Presti’s sign of Leo, revitalizing him yet again.
On June 17, between Games 5 and 6, Mars will shift into Virgo, marking the end of this Mars Return… but it could also potentially mark his first championship win running his own team, fulfilling the promise that had been set when he won three titles as an assistant GM for the San Antonio Spurs.
🏀 Indiana Pacers
The original ABA Pacers were born back in 1967, on October 14 at 8:30 p.m. Starting on May 26, the Pacers franchise began its second Saturn Return, which will extend through 2028. A Saturn Return is one of the most important astrological transits in a lifetime, as it marks a time of hard lessons, work and a redefinition of the structures in your life – you either overcome, or cower to the lessons of the ultimate authority, Saturn. Put another way, you either take charge and make necessary changes, or live in misery.
This mirrors the history of the Pacers as a team: Once the pre-eminent ABA dynasty, they’ve always found a way for their NBA title hopes to be averted by a stronger team (or by fate itself). Can they take the lessons from that time and apply them to a championship now, against one of the strongest teams on paper to ever make the NBA Finals?
As mentioned before, Saturn in Aries is about redefining basketball stardom from lone wolves to team players. And this Pacers team exemplifies that concept, as the team didn’t have a single Top 10 player in ESPN’s preseason rankings, yet they have risen to the Finals for the first time in 25 years.
Looking at Tyrese Haliburton’s birth chart, he is experiencing a shedding that allows him to let go of limiting beliefs around his confidence. During Game 2 of the Finals, the planet Venus will be providing support to his growth mindset and thoughtful gameplay. The temptation may be to judge Haliburton on how well he can match the output of his star counterpart, Gilgeous-Alexander, but that would be to his detriment. Not only are they very different players — according to Neil’s similarity system, SGA is like Jordan and Kobe Bryant; Haliburton is more like Kyrie Irving and Chauncey Billups — but having one Pacer go into the teeth of the fearsome OKC defense is counterproductive. His value comes not from mirroring aggression, but from elevating everyone around him.
Studying the patterns of the moon can also be enlightening for understanding repeat events. Pacer co-star Pascal Siakam and coach Rick Carlisle are the two members of Indiana who have previously won championship rings, both as part of historic upsets. (Carlisle led the Dallas Mavericks over LeBron James and the star-laden Miami Heat in 2011, while Siakam had a huge breakout as the Toronto Raptors ended the Golden State Warriors’ run of consecutive titles in 2019.) Both of them won their championships under a Scorpio moon – and the moon will be back there for Game 2 of these Finals… Just saying.
🔮 Predictions
By the metrics and betting odds, the Thunder go into this series as a heavy favorite. Neil’s forecast model gives Oklahoma City a whopping 84 percent chance to earn its first championship, and the Polymarket odds are even more bullish on OKC — on Wednesday, they were trading at an 86 percent edge for the Thunder. There are matchups that may offer Indiana hope, such as the fact that their high-powered and multi-faceted offense stands a better chance against the vaunted OKC defense than any of the teams the Thunder have dismissed so far. But on paper, this does look like a mismatch.
From Michelle’s astrological standpoint, it also seems that the Thunder could take these Finals in 5 games, with the Pacers picking up their win in Game 2, when the moon will be in Scorpio. That being said, this is the beginning of the Pacers’ time as a top team, and we should be seeing more success from them as Saturn continues its time in Aries through 2028.
Of course, championships aren’t won by transits alone. But basketball, like astrology, is ultimately about cycles, growth and timing. And whether you believe in destiny or just good defense, these Finals are as much a story about what basketball is becoming — and who might lead it into the future — as which team will lift the trophy later this month.
Filed under: NBA, Frivolities, Voodoo and Witchcraft
Those who’ve played at least 15 minutes per game in the playoffs.
We saw this shift emerge on the day Saturn entered Aries on May 24, between Games 2 and 3 of the ECF. This was the day Knicks star scorer Jalen Brunson began his Saturn Return, which is a time to learn the tough lessons that the planet provides. We saw him learning the lesson in real time as the Knicks once again failed to defeat the Pacers in a playoff series, the sixth time Indy ended New York’s season since 1995.
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