The Oklahoma City Thunder are the consensus favorite to come out of the Western Conference once again this season. That is almost a foregone conclusion when a team is the second youngest ever to win a title, rattles off a historic net rating, secures back-to-back No. 1 seeds, collects 68 regular season wins and boasts a Mount Rushmore NBA defense. But which teams in the forever-loaded conference have the best chance to knock OKC from atop the perch in 2025-2026?
5. LA Clippers. Firstly, Pablo Torre’s crackerjack detective skills may end up throwing a wrench in Steve Ballmer’s title contention Aspirations. But if Adam Silver and his team of lawyers don’t lay down any sort of suspension or voided contract this season and if Kawhi stays relatively healthy and if Father Time doesn’t suddenly catch up to this old roster, then this team that took the Nuggets to Game 7 last year could be dangerous. A potential Thunder vs Clippers playoff series would become a nonstop barrage of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for Paul George trade talk.
4. Golden State Warriors. The first era Thunder’s arch nemesis is hoping that teaming Jimmy Butler with Steph Curry and Draymond Green can give the Bay one last gasp at a final title contention swan song. That trio won at a high rate when all three played together last season, upset the #2 seed Rockets in the first round and may have had a chance at toppling the Wolves in the semis had Curry not been injured. A potential Thunder vs Warriors playoff series would bring up lots of 2010’s nostalgia -- and nausea.
3. Los Angeles Lakers. A motivated, leaner Luka Doncic. LeBron James somehow still being a top 15 player despite being a quadragenarian. A contract year for Austin Reaves. Replacing Jaxson Hayes with someone who can play center in the NBA. Adding a former DPOY in Marcus Smart. The Lakers fizzled out in the postseason last year, but the roster is improved on paper and the ceiling is still incredibly high. A potential Thunder vs Lakers playoff series would set off Gilgeous-Alexander vs Doncic debates in every corner of NBA social media.
2. Houston Rockets. The West’s No. 2 seed flipped the inefficient bucket getter Jalen Green with one of the most efficient bucket getters of all time in Kevin Durant. The Fred VanVleet loss is a big one and narrows the path to contention. But a young, talented roster will have another year of development and a go-to scorer in the playoffs to accompany their top-tier defense. A potential Thunder vs Rockets playoff series would probably just be completely chill and friendly and I can't think of anything newsworthy about it at all.
1. Denver Nuggets. The former champs and their MVP were the biggest playoff hurdle for the current champs and their MVP. This young Thunder team overcame an Aaron Gordon game-winner in Game 1, a big 4th quarter deficit in Denver down 2-1 in Game 4 and a pirouetting Nikola Jokic in Game 5 to finally take down the Nuggets in a hard-fought 7 games. Then Denver fixed their biggest weakness this offseason by shoring up their depth. On paper and fully healthy, OKC is the best team in the NBA. And Denver is second. A potential Thunder vs Nuggets playoff series almost seems inevitable at this point.