When the Oklahoma City Thunder locked up the top spot in the Western Conference last season, they did not get the respect they deserved. Granted, there was a little more room for skepticism with the 2023-24 team. Unfortunately for the Thunder organization, that trend of disrespect appears to be continuing.
There were some circles of the NBA world last year that wanted to describe the Thunder as one of the worst first seeds in a conference during recent memory. This felt disingenuous. Oklahoma City was young and inexperienced, but they were a strong team nonetheless. They just happened to be ousted by an equally strong Dallas Mavericks team led by one of the best superstars in the league: Luka Doncic.
This season, the Thunder are not squeaking into that position towards the end of the year. They have dominated the majority of 2024-25 as the best team in the Western Conference. As things currently stand, the Thunder have an 11-game lead on the top spot over the next closest competitor.
It would take a monumental collapse for Oklahoma City to not enter the 2025 NBA Playoffs with the best record in the West. Thus, the conference bracket would have all roads leading through them.
Despite that, ESPN analyst Brian Windhorst detailed how teams in the conference are not overly concerned about facing the Thunder come playoff time.
**"I hear it every day. I hear it implicitly from other people I talk to in the league [and] I hear it implicitly from players out there who were like, 'Yeah, yeah, we'll be all fine on the same side of the bracket as Oklahoma City.' They just don't respect them.
And I go, why? ... They're not a perfect team ... but this team is awesome. ... This team is absolutely capable of winning a championship. Now I get it. They're the youngest team in the league and you look at any league in any sport, you're never going to respect the youngest team.
I'm not expecting the people to cower from them, but my gosh, I can't believe how little respect there is paid to a team that had 57 wins last year and is on the way to 65, 67 wins this year."**
-Brian Windhorst
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The 2024-25 Thunder currently possess the best point differential in NBA history at +12.58. The other four teams in that top five have all gone on to win the championship that season. Anyone underestimating this squad is in for a rude awakening in the postseason.
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This story was originally published March 12, 2025 at 1:07 PM.