Tuesday night, the OKC Thunder fell to the Milwaukee Bucks in the second-annual Emirates NBA Cup Championship, losing by a final score of 97-81.
Though the ball club's performance during the contest was quite underwhelming, especially when it came to their long-range shooting where they made just five of their 32 attempts from beyond the arc, the overreactions that have come as a result from some fans and pundits have been a bit too much.
From questions emerging over whether Jalen Williams can be a reliable second option on a title-winning team to ESPN's Stephen A. Smith going as far as to say he may have to "re-think" where he projects the Thunder will finish come year's end, many different hot-takes have surfaced following Oklahoma City's In-Seasoun Tournament demise.
Now, heading into their first contest post the NBA Cup against the Magic, the folks at FanDuel's Run it Back seem to be under the impression that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company will be on a mission to remind the masses why they are, as host Michelle Beadle, "the darlings of the league."
Thunder projected to 'absolutely blast' Magic following NBA Cub loss
Pulling back on the doom and gloom narrative that seems to be linked to the Thunder following the NBA Cup, former NBA veterans and current sports media personalities Lou Williams and Chandler Parsons are chalking up the club's lackluster performance as simply "a bad offensive night."
As this segment of the podcast rolled along, the consensus opinion among the retired ballers was that Thursday night's matchup against Orlando will likely end in a "bounce back" fashion for OKC, with Parsons going as far as to predict that they'll wind up handily coasting to victory down in the Sunshine State.
"I think it's a tough break for the Magic. I think they got a pissed-off hungry team coming off the worst performance of their season so far. The fact that they can have one stinker like this and people think they can write them off and think anything's changed... I think they absolutely blast the Magic tonight I think they get back to winning ways," Parsons said.
Now, what's worth noting is that despite Parsons and Williams's confidence in the Thunder coming out of the gates swinging and coasting to a commanding win over the Magic, this team is far from a pushover.
Through 28 games played in 2024-25, Orlando finds itself residing in the fourth seed out in the Eastern Conference standings at 17-11 after finishing last season off with 47 wins and entering the playoffs as the fifth seed.
Having said that, the Thunder have lost back-to-back games just once this season and have not yet done so since Isaiah Hartenstein made his way into the lineup back on November 20, so, while the odds of the Magic getting blown out may be a tad far fetched, the odds and overall motivation to win seem to be in favor of OKC heading into the contest.