At 57-12, the OKC Thunder currently boast the best record in the entire league and have the arguable MVP frontrunner, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, leading the charge toward the club's second-straight postseason berth.
Yet, despite all this, Oklahoma City excitingly still finds itself in a position where they could realistically waltz into the stacked 2025 NBA Draft with a top-10 pick in their possession.
Back during the 2020 offseason, Sam Presti opted to strike a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers to take on veteran big Al Horford and the remaining years of his undesired $97 million deal. In the exchange, the Thunder received a package headlined by Philly's 2025 top-six protected first-round pick.
At the time, the title-hungry 76ers didn't think twice about coughing up such capital, as the hope was that their young star tandem of a, then, 26-year-old Joel Embiid and 24-year-old Ben Simmons would regularly be vying for the Larry O'Brien Trophy for the many years to come, thus creating the assumption that their draft picks would be on the lower level of value.
Fast forward to the year for them to finally pay up, however, and we find Philadelphia in a much different situation than expected. Their star big in Embiid is still in tow, though he has been hobbled by knee issues throughout the campaign, while his new-look running mates, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George, have also received numerous chomps from the injury bug.
Sixers plan to tank rest of season may backfire, thus benefiting Thunder
As a result, the ball club holds the sixth-worst record in the NBA at 23-46 while their two main attractions in Embiid and George are shelved for the remainder of the year.
Because of everything that's transpired, coupled with the mere four-win separation between them and the fifth-worst team, the New Orleans Pelicans, it is the belief of many that the Sixers may now look to tank the remainder of the season away and try to position themselves to hold onto their 2025 draft rights.
Now, while on the surface, such an agenda may instill fear in the Thunder and their faithful followers, when looking at Philadelphia's remaining schedule, the execution of such a plan may not be as simple as they think.
Over their next 13 contests, the 76ers will be playing against just three teams who sport winning records. On top of this, they'll be squaring off against five different teams that are clearly looking to better their draft status during this final stretch of the season as well.
Perhaps the most noteworthy of all their matchups is that they will be playing the worst team in the association, the Washington Wizards, twice.
Add all of this to the fact that they'll be playing more than half of their games at home and will sooner or later likely get All-Star Tyrese Maxey back to team up with the surging and impending free agent, Quentin Grimes, and it's far from a guarantee that Philadelphia will fall to the bottom-five in record.
Should they remain in possession of the sixth-worst record and, in turn, stay on the outside looking in on a bottom-five standing, the Thunder will hold a 54.2 percent chance of claiming the 76ers' first-round pick as their own.
OKC fans should like these odds, especially with how Philadelphia's remaining schedule is structured.