The Oklahoma City Thunder have been dominant all season long, despite missing key players due to injury. They’ve racked up 23 wins during the first 28 games of the year, have the best point differential in the league, and are 3.5 games up on the second place team in their conference.
Thunder Are Heavy Favorites To Keep #1 Overall Seed In The West
Will anyone be able to catch them in the West? According to the oddsmakers, no team is even in the vicinity of knocking them out of the #1 seed. DraftKings has the Thunder listed as -700 favorites to finish with the best record in the conference, with all other contenders being considered serious long shots.
The Houston Rockets are the team that is currently closest in the standings. They’ve been one of the biggest surprises this year after finishing with a .500 record in 2023-24, and have posted a 20-9 record over the first two months of the season. While they are currently 3.5 games back of OKC, their point differential is just +6.6 in comparison to the +12 that the Thunder possess, and are ranked 13th in the league in terms of points per game.
As far as their odds go, Houston is listed all the way back at +1500 despite having the second-best record.
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— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 24, 2024
The surging Dallas Mavericks were making a strong case over the past few weeks, having won 14 of their last 18 games in order to surge up the standings. But due to the injury suffered by Luka Doncic on Christmas Day, they could be without their top scorer for an extended period of time, which could end their pursuit of being the best team in the West.
It is unknown just how long Doncic will be out, but Dallas now has the 5th-shortest odds of grabbing the #1 seed, listed all the way back at +4000.
The teams in between don’t have much of a case, either. The Grizzlies are listed just slightly behind the Rockets at +1700, but they’ve seemingly overachieved so far with the talent that they have on their roster. The Nuggets, who are currently in 5th in the Western Conference standings, are listed at +2800.
Despite their dominance in the West, the Thunder are still playing second fiddle to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Championship odds. They’ve closed the gap recently, and have made it a two-way race with. OKC is listed at +330, not far behind Boston at +250.
