Despite being so far ahead of the rest of the teams in the Western Conference standings with their record of 56-12, as well as boasting by far the best defensive rating and net rating in the league at 106.2 and 12.2, respectively, the OKC Thunder are still being severely overlooked as a title contender.
That is, at least, among their peers and players strewn across the league.
Recently, ESPN's Brian Windhorst shed light on the fact that many individuals in the association "don't respect" Oklahoma City as legitimate championship threats, with some sharing with the insider that they believe "we'll be fine" in a playoff series against the ball club.
And while some, such as Celtics star Jaylen Brown, have since shared counter cases to this type of slanderous rhetoric, during a March 18 released sit down on The Kevin O'Connor Show, 13-year veteran Marcus Morris Sr. doubled down on this disrespect of the Thunder, revealing in further depth why this narrative is so popular across the association.
"To be honest, I just think it's one of those things where you don't have that veteran presence, you don't have that background of getting to the championship. You have a whole new team that's probably, maybe younger than some college teams... I don't think they're just ready to win. And if I was a more mature team, a veteran team that's been there, I would take my chances with playing OKC," Morris said.
Now, while this analysis is already a bit misguided because they do, in fact, have a key rotation piece who has not only gotten to the NBA Finals during his career but actually won it in Alex Caruso (part of the 2020 Lakers championship), this take on a team needing proven players who have "been there" is rather tired out and philosophically backward.
Thunder looking to prove inexperience is not a death knell in title chase
Like records, narratives such as this are meant to be broken and, simply put, a team or player hasn't "been there" until they have.
Unsurprisingly, young talents, in particular, are often void of extensive playoff experience early on in their careers, so it makes sense that this holds true with the third-youngest team in the league like the Thunder.
However, if any squad were capable of crushing this crippling take that every young team receives, it's this one.
On top of the fact that they are on pace to finish with the top-seed in the Western Conference standings and are currently tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers as having the best record in the entire league, the firepower this team has both as a collective and from an individual standpoint is truly remarkable.
Out of all players in the league who have played a minimum of 30 games, the Thunder find eight of their ballers ranking within the top 10, with the first five being Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (16.6), Kenrich Williams (15.7), Isaiah Joe (15.1), Jaylin Williams (14.7), and Alex Caruso (14.2).
They also are headlined by arguably the favorite to take home this season's MVP award in Gilgeous-Alexander, who, through 66 games, is posting a ridiculous stat line of 33.0 points (leads the league), 6.2 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.8 steals, and 1.0 blocks on 52.6 percent shooting from the floor and 37.1 percent shooting from distance.
Surrounding him is fellow All-Star Jaylen Williams (21.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.3 assists), rising stud big man Chet Holmgren (15.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks), and a slew of other promising young talents all guided by the reigning Coach of the Year Mark Daigneault.
Already with a six-game semifinals adventure under their belt following last year's playoff run, at the very least OKC should be seen as a team with serious potential moving forward.
That said, clearly, they're gunning for more than just one or two playoff series wins, as their main goal from here on out is to crush this crippling narrative that inexperience is the death knell for a young team's title chase.