Oklahoma City Thunder
Burning question: How far can this big 3 realistically take OKC?
Through roughly two-thirds of the season, the Oklahoma City Thunder have been one of the best teams in the Western Conference. At the NBA All-Star Break, the Thunder sits as the second seed and they're on pace to at the very least host a first-round playoff series. But even though the Thunder will likely enter the postseason as a top-4 seed, there's still very much unknown about how this team will end up performing in the playoffs. That's mostly because this team is so young. It's hard to predict how their regular season success will translate, if at all, in the postseason.
And over the last two months of the regular season, and into the playoffs, that's one big question that the Thunder needs to answer. Or, in other words, how far will this core big 3 of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren be able to take them in the Western Conference?
A lot of how the Thunder operates in the offseason will depend on their performance to close the season.