The OKC Thunder are in a legitimate position to claim the Western Conference's number one seed by season's end and, in turn, head into the playoffs with guaranteed home-court advantage through the first three rounds.
Still, some have some serious concerns about their championship viability this season, and their recent 116-104 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers is being pointed to as an example of why.
Though many may give the Thunder the excuse of having tired legs, as they had just come off a hard-fought bout against the Phoenix Suns the night before, former nine-year veteran Chandler Parsons seems to believe their demise to LA is indicative of the club's lacking size, strength, and overall physicality, as he went off on how LeBron James and company out-muscled them in a recent episode of FanDuel's Run it Back.
Chandler Parsons puts size and strength of Thunder on notice
"We've been talking about that for Oklahoma City all year long. They're thin up front, they don't really have depth at the five position"Chandler Parsons
Parsons would continue on to argue that their lack in size coupled with their youthfulness and, thus, inexperience in big-game settings should make it difficult for fans and followers alike to "trust" the Thunder heading into the playoffs, especially considering they could realistically wind up playing the Lakers as early as round one.
"This is why it's hard to trust this young team because [the Lakers are] a team they're going to have to play in the playoffs. This could possibly be their one [versus] eight-seed and I don't know who I'd go with. I'd probably give the edge obviously to Oklahoma City but it's not gonna be an easy series no matter who they play. You look at that Western Conference and how deep it is, it's not going to be an easy matchup for any of these teams [but] especially the Oklahoma City Thunder. I think the physicality, Chet [Holmgren] at the five, that's a real issue."Chandler Parsons
The block AND the bucket 〰️ pic.twitter.com/ktL9o01m3z
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) March 5, 2024
Though the Thunder may have a seven-seed advantage and eight wins over the Lakers, it is Los Angeles that wound up coming away from the season series victorious, as they claimed three of the four games they played one another in 2023-24.
In said outings, Oklahoma City was held to just 45.6 percent shooting from the field and 33.3 percent shooting from distance, a far cry from their respective 50.0 percent and 39.5 percent clips on the season as a whole.
On the opposite side, the Lakers have improved their own offensive conversation rates in such bouts, shooting 50.1 percent from the floor and 41.5 percent from deep which, considering OKC generally holds opponents to 45.2 percent shooting from the floor and 36.3 percent shooting from deep, is a bit concerning.