National Media Members Split on OKC Thunder's Position as Title Favorites

The Oklahoma City Thunder came into the 2025-26 NBA season as favorites to repeat as NBA champions.

After a remarkable 2024-25 season and no significant losses over the offseason, there was plenty of reason to believe the group would be in prime position to hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy again. After getting off to a 24-1 start, OKC's looked poised to go back-to-back, but the team has cooled off since its historic start.

Heading into the All-Star break, Mark Daigneault's team still sits atop the Western Conference with a 42-14 record, holding a three-game lead on the San Antonio Spurs. The Thunder have the most wins in the NBA, but Detroit boasts the league's best winning percentage.

Oklahoma City's recent stretch has created some doubt among analysts and observers about OKC's chances at becoming the first team to win consecutive NBA titles since the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018.

On a recent episode of First Take, David Dennis Jr. and Stephen A. Smith agreed that they favored "the field" instead of the Thunder when predicting who will win the Western Conference.

"I'm taking the field here," Dennis said. "Like, when I think of somebody versus the field, I think of Tiger Woods versus the field. I think of (the Kevin Durant) Warriors vesus the field, (Michael) Jordan Bulls versus the field. The Thunder are not that dominant, at this moment, to be in that position right now."

"The other teams, I think, do not fear the Thunder in the way that they did maybe at the beginning of the season," Dennis continued. "Especially when you look at the Spurs. The Spurs are not afraid of that Thunder team and they punched them in the mouth three of those times they played against them. I think the Nuggets are right there with them."

Brian Windhorst disagreed with Dennis and Smith, though, picking the Thunder ahead of the field in the Western Conference.

One concern that all three of the aforementioned media members noted, though, were Oklahoma City's injury struggles. Jalen Williams has dealt with multiple hamstring ailments after missing multiple weeks due to an offseason wrist surgery, while Isaiah Hartenestein has also been sidelined for large portions of the season.

In addition to a pair of starters missing significant time this year, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Ajay Mitchell have also been hurt recently. If health continues to be a problem for Oklahoma City, the team's title hopes could certainly be derailed.

The group has shown, however, that when healthy, they still have the ability to beat any team in the NBA.

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