It's no secret that the OKC Thunder have absolutely dominated throughout the 2024-25 regular season.
From their league-leading 67-14 record to their top-billed talent pool headlined by MVP frontrunner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City has been a team firing on all cylinders since October.
They've been so dominant, in fact, that, heading into Sunday's regular season finale, they hold a whopping 15-win edge over the second-seeded Houston Rockets (52-29) in the Western Conference standings.
Yet, despite all this, there's a case to be made that the Thunder may not be receiving the respect that their play warrants.
At least, that's what ESPN radio personality Dan Grasso seemed to suggest during a recent appearance on ESPN New York's Dipietro & Rothenberg.
NY sports personality makes realization about small-market Thunder
When discussing which teams out West should be viewed as legitimate title threats, Grasso's on-air cohorts all mentioned how the Thunder are the likely favorites to come away with the conference crown come June.
However, when it comes to who should be next in line, the discussion divulged into odds of another team like the Lakers, Clippers, and Warriors usurping SGA and company in the playoffs, with the percentage chance of such a happening going as high as 40.0.
In response to such chatter, it seemed that Grasso came to a quick realization about the disrespect OKC was receiving with such a topic, as he made the bold statement that, if this same elite team was playing in a bigger market, there would be no hesitation about their perceived title chances.
"I think if the Thunder played in a bigger market, if they were the New York Thunder [or] the Boston Thunder, we would be sitting here saying how overwhelmingly the odds are for them coming out of the West," Grasso said.
For a New York-based analyst to come out and drop such a comment, it should be seen in some regards as a rather thought-provoking take.
However, to the Thunder faithful and Oklahoma City natives, this is a realization they've known throughout their fandom.
From the lackluster attention they've received in the national broadcast department despite having clinched back-to-back top seeds to the constant disrespect they receive from both keyboard warriors and pundits alike, OKC is regularly found being undersold within the limelight despite being the clear superior team compared to the rest of the association.
Heck, even the fact that they are just slightly ahead of the Boston Celtics in the title-odds conversation (+165 compared to +215) despite being seven games ahead of them and having bested them by double-digits during their lone matchup on the year could be seen as a strengthener to Grasso's case.
It's about time this narrative has made its way outside of the Sooner State.
Impressively enough, not only has it stretched beyond state lines, but it's being echoed all the way across the country and in arguably the biggest market.