With the NBA Playoffs set to begin on Saturday, there will be 16 teams vying to be the last standing in June holding up the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
While there are 16 teams mathematically alive to win the title, most would agree that there may only be a handful of teams that have a legitimate chance to win.
Historically speaking, the Thunder may not be one of those teams.
The Thunder locked up the sixth seed on Wednesday when they defeated the Milwaukee Bucks. A few hours later the Thunder drew the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round.
Under the current 16-team playoff format, the only team seeded fourth or lower to win an NBA championship is the 1994-95 Houston Rockets as the sixth seed when they swept the top-seeded Orlando Magic.
The last sixth-seeded team to win a first-round playoff series is the 2018 New Orleans Pelicans when they swept, coincidentally enough, the Trail Blazers. The last time before that: The 2013-14 Brooklyn Nets over the Toronto Raptors.
The Thunder are the only lower seed in the first round favored to win their series so they appear to have a good chance to knock off Portland. Starting off the series with a win will be crucial for the Thunder as Game 1 winners in a best-of-seven series have won the series 78.9 percent of the time since 1984.
So, as it pertains to the Thunder, they may have their work cut out to win the championship this season. But, as plenty of other teams have shown, records can be broken and history can be re-written.
As Russell Westbrook would say, why not the Thunder?
Stats courtesy of NBA PR
