The Oklahoma City Thunder may be entering the new season with vastly unrealistic expectations and it could lead to a huge failure.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are in uncharted territory heading into the 2024-25 season. The last time there was this much expectations on their shoulders heading into the start of a season, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were leading the charge for the franchise. That quickly unraveled for the franchise but the Thunder have rebuilt and are now back in the limelight.
The upstart Thunder are not only expected to be good this season but there's championship talk surrounding this team. And it's not even just coming from those informed in the league, the fact that the championship talk surrounding this team has hit the mainstream leads me to believe that this young team could be in some trouble.
It's almost as if everyone is assuming the Thunder is going to be a championship favorite in the Western Conference this season. For such a young and inexperienced team, that worries me and leads me to believe that the Thunder could be set up for all-time failure heading into the start of the season.
The Oklahoma City Thunder may be set up to fail
What are the expectations for the Thunder this season? ESPN has picked them to not only finish as the No. 1 seed in the West but also for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to win the league MVP. If the Thunder are going to be the No. 1 seed again and if SGA is going to win the MVP, that means a deep playoff run has to be on deck.
In such a scenario, if the Thunder were to lose anywhere before the Western Conference Finals, this season would be viewed as a massive failure.
It's not that I don't believe the Thunder are good enough to make such a run, because they are. In fact, we nearly saw them pull it off this past season. At the same time, what we also saw was a team that probably wasn't ready for the big stage of the NBA Playoffs. The Thunder lost to the Mavericks in the conference semifinals in six games but it never felt close.
Maybe the experience from last year is all the Thunder need to take a big step forward in their progression as a team. But what if it isn't? What if this team still is missing one piece to take them over the top? What if that piece doesn't end up being Alex Caruso?
Caruso was a fine offseason addition but I can't imagine he's the missing piece for a championship team. The Thunder are good and have the chance to be really good. But I am afraid we've jumped too quickly on this team in the West. And now that they've hit the mainstream, they could be set up for failure.