The Oklahoma City Thunder have been dominant this season. With the emergence of Shai Gilgeous Alexander, the Thunder are looking like a serious threat to even challenge the reigning defending champions in Boston Celtics for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Looking back at the days when Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden left the Thunder, many believed that it would take them a long time to rebuild a solid roster to compete for a championship again. After all, it’s almost impossible to draft or acquire three superstars in a short span of time, but what Sam Presti (Thunder’s GM) has done is quite simply remarkable.
At first, the Thunder went out and acquired Shai Gilgeous Alexander from the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Paul George. The Thunder were far from competing for a championship at that point. But they had Chris Paul on their roster at that time. What did that do?
True NBA fans know that every team that Chris Paul goes to automatically become a lot better, and the reason is simply because of his leadership skills, and his basketball IQ. Paul is known as the “Point God,” for crying out loud and SGA could not have been in a better situation.
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Not only did the Thunder acquire SGA but they also took a lot of draft picks from the Clippers and at that point, we knew that the Thunder’s future was bright. In 2022, the Thunder drafted Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, who have both become extremely important for the Franchise’s success.
Last season, even though the Thunder were one of the best teams in the NBA, their lack of ‘bigs’ and depth in their line-up was exposed by Luka Doncic and the Mavs. As we saw Kyrie Irving and Doncic put on an absolute show and there was nothing that the Thunder could do to slow the two down. As a result, they were bounced out of the second round of the playoffs.
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After the loss it was clear that OKC was still missing a big who could backup Chet Holmgren and also a wing defender who could help out when SGA or Lu Dort are on the bench. So to fill that void, they signed Isiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso. While the team lost an essential playmaker in Josh Giddey, adding more defense has certainly helped them as they are the best defensive team in the NBA today.
After a 145-117 win against the Chicago Bulls, the Thunder have clenched the best record against an opposing conference in NBA history. They are now 28-1 against the Eastern Conference teams, and their only loss came against the Cleveland Cavaliers who are currently at the top of the East.
(Please note that OKC also lost the NBA Cup going against the Milwaukee Bucks. However, the loss does not count in the regular season record.)
OKC has now surpassed the 2015-2016 Golden State Warriors team who had previously set the record with 27-3 against Eastern Conference teams. The Thunder are having one of the best seasons in NBA history and Shai Gilgeous Alexander is one of the reasons why the Thunder are so far and ahead of everybody in the West.
SGA is having a fantastic season averaging 32.8 points per game and is also currently sitting at the top of the MVP ladder. We also can’t forget about Mark Daigneault, who has coached this young team ever since he took over the head coaching job in 2020.
If their record against the Eastern Conference wasn’t enough to convince you, the Thunder are on pace to win 70 regular season games this season. Only two teams in NBA history have won at least 70 games or more, and they are the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls and the 2015-2016 Golden State Warriors. According to Tankathon, the Thunder have a remaining schedule that is ranked 19th in terms of difficulty, and they have a really good chance of achieving yet another milestone this season.
In our opinion, the Thunder should definitely come out of the West and when it comes to the NBA finals, we believe that they have everything they need to beat either Boston or the Cavs, provided that these teams reach the finals.
The Thunder are not only loaded in terms of their starting line-up but they also have a decent depth, who can provide the spark that they may need in the playoffs as the Thunder rank 16th in bench production averaging 35.4 points per game.
OKC is arguably the only team in the Western Conference that are evenly matched against the Celtics and the Cavs, and no matter which teams play in the finals, we expect the series to go to 7 games.
Also Read: Western Conference Stays a Cut-Throat Battleground Over Eastern Rivals in the NBA
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