Will Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder have one other dominant season in 2025-26, or will human nature take over?
As spectacular as The OKC championship season was in 2024-25, the Thunder will face a harder path to a repeated title. Not solely Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Co. can have a goal on the again each night; OKC will combat towards the complacency that historically follows the NBA championships (see: 2024-25 Boston Celtics).
Even so, if there was by no means a group to transcend conventional tales, it will be this OKC group that’s extremely younger and that ought to proceed to enhance (horrifying for the NBA).
On Thursday, the Bleacher Report Hughes subsidy doubled the success of the OKC, predicting that the Thunder will end the top of the western convention by a margin of 10 video games.
“The reigning champions completed 16 unbelievable video games earlier than the Houston rockets, second seeded, marking the primary time in a decade, the seeded n ° 1 had this nice cushion within the West”, ” Hughes wrote.
Historical past continues under promoting
“With the entire buzz of essentially the most formidable of the convention this 12 months, the protected speculation could be that OKC will happen a short time it recovers a championship race whereas the threats to Houston, Denver, Minnesota and elsewhere push the pedal down slightly extra to evolution. 70 and extra video games.
“Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren are the apparent ascending masss, however even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has room to enhance,” continued Hughes. “Stephen Curry gained a MVP and a championship, to extend much more the next season. A unanimous MVP could be very unbelievable, however Gilgeous-Alexander might refine his creation of video games and cross fairly simply, which might have a constructive streaming impact on every hole.
In Hughes’s Level, the managing director Sam Presti constructed a ridiculous listing designed for sustained excellence.
Historical past continues under promoting
Gilgeous-Alexander has simply launched a MVP season the place he collected a median of 32.7 factors, 6.4 assists and 5.0 rebounds, and but it is loopy to suppose that SGA improves (he was 27 years previous in July).
If OKC wins the West by one other broad margin, this might consolidate their budding dynasty standing.
