NBA Rumors: Western Conference Insiders Don't Have 'Great Fear' of Thunder in Playoffs

The Oklahoma City Thunder may be leading the Western Conference with 47 wins, but they reportedly haven't convinced conference opponents they're title contenders.

ESPN's Brian Windhorst said at the 14:00 mark of Friday's episode of Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective he recently asked a Western Conference general manager about the Thunder not getting respect from other teams.

"He's like, 'Why should they get respect?'" Windhorst said. "He wasn't being dismissive to them. He's like, 'You shouldn't get respect until you've done it before.'"

ESPN's Tim MacMahon added: "Honestly, I talked to a lot of people around the Western Conference too, and I talked to coaches on other teams that have been in the playoff mix, and there is not this great fear of the Oklahoma City Thunder, whether there should or should not be."

Windhorst concluded: "I was talking to a head coach yesterday, and he said, we all think we can beat each other. We're all flawed and we all think we can beat each other."

The Thunder entered the 2024-25 season as the youngest team in the NBA with an average age of just over 24 years old.

That relative lack of experience, coupled with the Thunder's second-round exit from the 2024 playoffs after entering the postseason as a No. 1 seed, has apparently left opponents unconvinced Oklahoma City is the team to beat.

The Thunder are on track to earn a top seed for the second time this seed thanks to a 47-11 record. The second-place Memphis Grizzlies sit 9.0 games back of first place in the conference.

After adding experience to the roster with the offseason additions of Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein, while seeing another MVP caliber season from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and another step forward from All-Star Jalen Williams, the Thunder are on track to be a tougher playoff opponent this time around. The team will have to wait until the NBA playoffs begin in April to prove that to their Western Conference opponents.