OKC Thunder are legitimately in the postseason mix

The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night in the Paycom Center. That win placed them in control of the 8th seed in the tightly contested Western Conference Standings. However, on Wednesday, The Houston Rockets beat the surging L.A. Lakers, and the Boston Celtics knocked off the Minnesota Timberwolves. This placed the OKC Thunder in 9th place in the West.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are legit contenders for a spot in the NBA postseason. Since January 1st, the OKC Thunder have had the third-best net rating in the league. In addition, the team has won three straight contests, including six of their last seven tilts after a 16-point victory over the Nets.

In that game, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30+ points for the 38th time this season, tied for the second most in the NBA this year. In addition, Josh Giddey logged his 4th triple-double of the season, marking the 8th of his career.

The OKC Thunder are in the mix for the NBA postseason and play in their most anticipated game of the season in Toronto.

The Oklahoma City Thunder hold the tiebreaker over the Dallas Mavericks, and with a win tonight, they would sit at .500 and back in the 8th spot of the Western Conference.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is returning to Toronto to play in his first game up north since being named an NBA All-Star, and the emotions of this game will run high.

With the Portland Trailblazers fading fast, the Pelicans injury bug, and the Utah Jazz dipping three games below .500, the OKC Thunder have everything in front of them regarding making a run at the NBA postseason.

This would be a remarkable feat for the second youngest roster in NBA history, the youngest in the league this season, who is playing without Chet Holmgren (their highest pick in the rebuild), Kenrich Williams (a high-level tone-setting rotational wing), and Aleksej Pokusevski (who was having a career year at the time of his injury).

When you look around the NBA’s Western Conference and only consider the data points we have seen from this single season, who has a better case to cling to a postseason spot than Oklahoma City?