The Oklahoma City Thunder have been far and away the best team in the West throughout this NBA regular season, and out of the entire league only the Cleveland Cavaliers have been able to keep pace in the win column. If last year was OKC's arrival this year is hammering home that the Thunder are not a one-year wonder and instead are here to stay atop the Western Conference standings, led by MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Playoff success has yet to come for this OKC core, though, which apparently has led to a certain lack of respect for how threatening they are. ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst relayed the blunt thoughts of other players on First Take Wednesday, stating they "just don't respect" the Thunder as championship contenders.
"My god, is there an incredible amount of disrespect for this team," Windhorst said to Stephen A. Smith and Chris "Mad Dog" Russo. "I hear it every day. I hear it implicitly from other people I talk to in the league, I hear it implicitly from players out there who are like, 'Yeah, yeah we'll be fine on the same side of the bracket as OKC.' They just don't respect them."
It's a bit surprising to hear that's the scuttlebutt around the NBA. The Thunder have been utterly dominant this season, blowing their opponents out of the water with a league-best net rating of 12.4. Should they finish the season at that number it would rank as the second-best net rating by a team of all time, behind only the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. OKC is enjoying a historic season by many statistical measures.
But! The NBA has always been a playoff league and the Thunder have not "proven it" in the postseason yet. They won their first-round series last year but fell to the Dallas Mavericks in six games in the second round. That will always linger as a burning question about this OKC squad— fair or not.
The NBA playoffs begin in just over a month and that's when the Thunder can earn the respect not currently being given.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NBA Insider Reveals Players 'Just Don't Respect' Thunder As Championship Contenders.
