NBA Rumors: Injury to key player could derail Oklahoma City Thunder's miracle season

NBA Rumors: An injury to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could derail the Oklahoma City Thunder's miracle season.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been one of the best stories in all of the NBA and consistently one of the best teams in the Western Conference. For the majority of the year, the Thunder has sat near the top of the standings in the West. And heading into the final 2 and a half weeks of the regular season, the Thunder remains just a half-game out of the top seed in the Western Conference standings.

Led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who should get some serious consideration for league MVP, the Thunder is preparing to embark on what could end up being a historic playoff run for the franchise. However, if there's one thing that can completely derail this team's miracle season, it's an injury to a key player. Right now, that's something that has that this team has to be worried about considering that SGA is dealing with a bit of a nagging injury.

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault revealed that SGA is not 100 percent, is a bit banged up, and dealing with a quad injury. It's certainly something to monitor and could play a factor in how the Thunder approaches the final few weeks of the season.

How will the Oklahoma City Thunder approach the final few weeks of the regular season?

Currently, in a three-team race for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, it'll be interesting to see how this injury impacts the Thunder, if at all, down the stretch. Ideally, before the start of the playoffs, the Thunder would be able to find at least a few days or even a week for SGA to rest up before the team's postseason run. However, that could prove to be difficult if the Thunder does want to finish as the top seed in the West.

With the Denver Nuggets playing better down the stretch and the Minnesota Timberwolves still being ultra-competitive despite their own injury issues, it could prove to be difficult for the Thunder to rest SGA and still finish as the top seed in the West.

That said, there's no question that if the Thunder is going to make a deep run in the playoffs, they're going to need a healthy SGA. That's something that the Thunder will have to debate over these next few days. No matter what the Thunder decides to do down the stretch, the good news is that OKC is likely going to finish as a top-three seed in the West, at worst. At the very least, this is a team that will have the opportunity to make a deep run.

And with a healthy SGA, the Thunder could emerge as the most dangerous team not named the Nuggets in the West.