Near the bottom of the NBA standings, a battle is raging for the top 2022 Draft selections.
In the outright lead stands Orlando at 10-40, followed closely by Detroit, Houston and Oklahoma City.
Between those four and the next stands a significant lead. The ending of one tier and beginning of another.
At 1-12 in their last 13 games, the Thunder have solidly become one of the teams vying for the top pick in the draft.
In the following tier is Sacramento, Indiana, New Orleans, San Antonio and Portland.
All of which, outside of the Zion-less Pelicans, could be major sellers at the trade deadline, and look to insert themselves into the bottom tier quickly.
But for now, their rosters are simply too complete.
At 14-34, OKC stands just a half-game back from the Rockets for the reverse three seed. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sidelined until after the All-Star break with a sprained ankle, the Thunder could close the gap on its three other competitors.
Alonzo
In the bottom ranks, Houston and Detroit could both be sellers at the deadline, with Christian Wood and Jerami Grant being offered up.
While OKC doesn’t have much to sell teams in terms of win-now value, you can never count them out with general manager Sam Presti at the helm.
Oklahoma City next takes on a Portland team amid a brutal stretch of their schedule. The Thunder and Blazers tip off at 7 p.m. on Monday.
Want to join the discussion? Like SI Thunder on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Thunder news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.
Derek is the Publisher for InsideTheThunder.com and Draft Digest for Fan Nation, powered by Sports Illustrated. He has been a sports writer in the Oklahoma City market for five years now, primarily covering the Oklahoma City Thunder and NBA Draft.
Reverse Standings: Thunder, Others Beginning to Separate – Sports Illustrated
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Aug 26, 2022
