ESPN analyst drops hot take on OKC Thunder, SGA after NBA Cup schedule release

Though the 2024-25 NBA season is still several months away, many are already sharing their predictions for how things will ultimately play out, and, when it comes to the OKC Thunder, fans and analysts alike have been quite big on their potential to accomplish big things.

Their most recent link to a praise-filled prophecy came Tuesday afternoon soon after the league announced the complete game and national television schedule for Group Play of the Emirates NBA Cup 2024.

During an NBA Today discussion panel, ESPN analyst Tim Legler dropped his two cents in on who he believes will come away from the illustrious mid-season tournament victorious and, without hesitation, he pegged the Thunder as his favorite to win it all.

ESPN analyst pegs Thunder as favorites to win Emirates NBA Cup 2024

Highlighting the team's obvious desires to thrust themselves into the legitimate title contender conversation following an impressive, albeit shorter than expected season that ended in round two of the playoffs despite being the top-seed in the Western Conference, Legler is under the impression that Oklahoma City is looking to make a statement in 2024-25.

To him, a way they can do that is by going out and winning the NBA Cup.

"This is a team that I think has to show progression. They had an incredible year a year ago but we saw that they were a little bit young, a little bit green to make that run through the west... How do you make a statement to start the following season? By winning this," Legler said.

Legler's Thunder-based predictions wouldn't stop there, however, as he would go a bit further to highlight who he believes will end up being crowned NBA Cup MVP, and, to no one's surprise, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was his choice.

Despite the fact that OKC finished last season off with the second-best record in the entire league at 57-25 and clinched a playoff berth for the first time in four seasons, their successes didn't seem to translate during the league's first annual tournament.

They wound up going a mere 1-3 through four games played in Group Play and failed to advance beyond the first stage of the the festivities.

After falling short in both last year's NBA Cup and NBA Postseason, Legler believes the Thunder will be looking to redeem themselves on both fronts.

While the ultimate goal is to achieve the latter, first they'll have to get through the former, which kicks off on November 15 against the Phoenix Suns.