Thunder Maintain Play-In Flexibility Following Mavericks Loss

It's the final week of the regular season in the 2022-23 campaign, which means every game matters even more. For the Oklahoma City Thunder, this means games of consequence for the first time in over two years. This can be overwhelming for the youngest team in the NBA, yet the Thunder are well positioned to make the play-in.

The team on their heels to this point are the Dallas Mavericks, who entered the day a full game back of the Thunder. Furthermore, the Thunder own the tiebreaker over the Mavs which is a significant advantage given just three games remain for both teams.

Oklahoma City fell to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night, which isn't surprising given they're the favorite in the Western Conference with Kevin Durant, but that didn't hinder the Thunder's outlook.

Just before the Thunder fell, Dallas also lost on the road in overtime to the Atlanta Hawks. As such, the standings and scenarios the rest of the way remain intact as OKC is still a game ahead of the Mavs entering Monday.

The rest of the way, it's truly up to the Thunder on what the outcome of the season is, since just one or two wins over the final three could lock them in to the No. 10 seed and a road postseason game. While the final three games are against good teams, the talent on this young Oklahoma City roster should be enough to get it done. Especially with how the Mavericks continue to struggle, losing losing seven of their last ten games, the outlook is still positive.

A lot can happen in even a week at the NBA level, but the Thunder still have a great chance of playing beyond the regular season upon their last game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday afternoon.

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