After a short road trip where the OKC Thunder finished off with a win against the New Orleans Pelicans, the team heads back to the Sooner State as they prep to host the Dallas Mavericks in Tuesday's Emirates NBA Cup Quarterfinals matchup.
After an impressive 18-5 start to the year, Oklahoma City will have a true test against every team playing in the NBA Cup, as none are guaranteed a victory. Also, every team in the bracket is going through some bad injury woes.
Among these hungry eight-remaining participants, where do the Thunder stack up?
No. 8) Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks are a very interesting team, as it seems they do not know which direction they want to go in this season.
Do they want to rebuild and get a lottery pick in the draft? Perhaps they want to compete for a playoff spot? Maybe they even wish to make a move to get Trae Young another elite scoring option?
No one knows!
This is why they are at the bottom of the rankings, for they simply have no true identity.
Yes, they beat the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, but they also lost to the cellar-dweller Washington Wizards twice this year.
It is hard to believe that Atlanta can beat any team in this remaining bracket, and it seems more than likely that they'll be bounced in the first round.
No. 7) Orlando Magic
Orlando is a very good team in the Eastern Conference... when they are healthy that is.
Last week, Magic fans were hit with another brutal health-related update, as it was revealed that rising star forward Franz Wagner will be sidelined for the foreseeable future with a torn right oblique.
What makes this timing even worse is the fact that Paolo Banchero is also currently sidelined with this same kind of injury, leaving Jalen Suggs as the number-one scoring option down in Florida.
The combo guard may be averaging 15.5 points per game on decent shooting splits, but he's simply not enough to prevent this offense from seeing an extreme dip in production.
In a perfect world where everyone stays healthy, Orlando would be in the running for the top seed in the East competing for the Cup, but, sadly, we do not live in such a world.
No. 6) Golden State Warriors
After a hot start to the season, it seems that age has officially caught up with the Dubs, as they have gone 3-7 over their last ten games while enduring some truly ugly losses along the way.
They do have Stephen Curry, one of the greatest shooters of all time, but he is also having a somewhat down year, putting up just 22.6 points per game on 41.6 percent shooting from deep.
These along with injuries to key players like Andrew Wiggins and DeAnthony Melton, and it's obvious this offense will struggle to keep up with other teams, especially against their first-round matchup in the Houston Rockets.
No. 5) Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks have stepped it up the past few games, even going on a seven-game winning streak before falling to the Atlanta Hawks Last Wednesday.
Still, this was not enough for them to be put into the top half of teams competing for the trophy.
Frankly, besides Giannis, they are not all that reliable on either end of the court.
Khris Middleton just came back, but he had a below-average performance in his first game, only scoring 11 points on 20.0 percent shooting.
They just do not have enough firepower outside of Giannis and Damian Lillard, and that will ultimately be their downfall.
No. 4) Houston Rockets
Houston is the team that the Thunder were last year, playing above their expected level and exploding everyone's minds with their record.
At the end of the day, though, they are still young and have been hit with the injury bug.
Fred VanVleet and Tari Eason are currently out with health issues and are questionable to play against the Warriors on Wednesday.
This will put this team in a bad position, relying on Alpren Sengun and Jalen Green to lead them to victory. Though both may be talented, they are one-dimensional talents and have proven to be highly inconsistent.
The good news for Rockets fans is that their first-round matchup is against Golden State, which should have them advance to the Semifinals.
This is where the run ends, though, as they will take on one of Dallas or Oklahoma City.
No.3) New York Knicks
The Nova Knicks are the clear cut best team in the East competing for the In-Season Tournament trophy.
Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns have led them to a 14-9 record, all while having their defensive enforcer Mitchell Robinson not play a single game yet.
The Knicks have one of the best offenses in the NBA, putting up 118.0 points per game, which ranks seventh in the league.
However, the defense could be better, as they are allowing 111.1 points, which could be the reason they end up going home empty handed.
Still, no team on the East side of the bracket should compete with them, as they are one of the more complete squads in the association.
No. 2) Dallas Mavericks
The top two were tough to choose between, but the Mavericks' ceiling should only go as high as second in anyone's ranking.
After a very disappointing start to the season, Dallas has turned the page and is sitting second in the Western Conference standings (behind only the Thunder, mind you) with a 16-8 record.
Led by Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, this offense is elite, almost to the point no defense can truly stop them.
Having shooters like Klay Thompson and PJ Washington be able to play off the ball, waiting for a catch-and-shoot opportunity is what puts the Mavericks in the upper echelon of teams.
However, they do have the same Achilles heel that the Knicks do, and that is poor defense.
Allowing 111.5 points per game is not good enough to win you the Cup, and it also does not help that Naji Marshall is injured and may not play.
No. 1) Oklahoma City Thunder
Bias and emotions aside, the Thunder are still the best team in the bracket, but it is close.
There are a few reasons for this, but the main one is the fact that the defense is historically good.
So far this season, Oklahoma City has a point differential of +11.9, putting them in first. The team closest to them in the tournament is Dallas with a +7.6.
They also lead the league in steals per game with 12.1. The Magic are the closest team competing with them at 9.5.
On top of this, their offense is so versatile that they could run virtually any offensive scheme they want.
Also, it helps when you have one of the MVP favorites in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is also putting up another historic season.
Though nothing is guaranteed in this league, assuming the Thunder get past the Mavericks on Tuesday, there's reason to believe that no one else in the tournament can stop them.