The Oklahoma City Thunder have already received a gift from the Play-In Tournament.
With the Los Angeles Clippers' wild loss to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, the Thunder will officially have a lottery selection in this year's draft. They currently have a 7.1% chance of jumping into the top-four and a 1.5% chance of getting the first overall selection. For a team in need of talent to replenish their roster this offseason, this draft pick couldn't have come at a better time.
But it's not all said and done.
If the Warriors can pull off another unlikely victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday, Oklahoma City's pick will bump up from 12th to 11th overall, elevating their chances of a top-four selection to 9.4%. It gives them a clear rooting interest in Friday night's play-in matchup.
But Golden State's win has issued a painful reminder to the rest of the NBA. You can never count out Stephen Curry as long as he's fully healthy, and a Warriors win would leave the Thunder with a more difficult first-round matchup than they might have anticipated.
Thunder have conflicting interests in the final matchup of the Play-In Tournament
The Warriors have had a rough season, to say the least. They lost Jimmy Butler to a season-ending ACL injury in January, also losing Stephen Curry for 27 games to a lingering knee issue and Moses Moody for the season with a torn patellar tendon. Golden State lost 17 of their final 22 games as they attempted to scrape together a winning formula before the Play-In Tournament.
They largely failed to accomplish that goal. Until the fourth quarter against the Clippers, that is. They will now head into a matchup with a Phoenix team that had its own fair share of underperformances down the stretch of the regular season, culminating in their disastrous loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in their first play-in matchup.
It's not that the Thunder should truly be worried about blowing a series against Golden State. The Warriors are too thin talent-wise and lack the defensive connectivity to be a genuine threat to Oklahoma City's championship hopes.
But the playoffs are all about stamina. A contested first-round series, especially one where Curry is involved, could force the Thunder to exert more energy than might otherwise be necessary to advance to the second round. If Curry's heroics can force the series to even six games, Oklahoma City would be signficantly worse off as they attempt to mount a deep playoff run.
Phoenix is certainly talented, but there's not really a world where any team would prefer to face Curry in a vacuum.
The play-in matchup on Friday, therefore, represents a double-edged sword for the Thunder.
Add us as a preferred source on Google