As the Thunder have reached a rough patch in the season, many are beginning to question if the team can still be a serious threat in the postseason.
After losing to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night, the Thunder have now lost four straight and are just 5-10 since the All-Star break. They have the worst offense in the league during that span.
The team became a bit of a talking point during The Jump as Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady and NBA champion Richard Jefferson joined Zach Lowe and host Rachel Nichols on Thursday.
Thunder fans may be interested in the comments made by Jefferson.
I got a little bit of heat because I said I’m not really that impressed with the Oklahoma City team. They are a much better team than last year in my opinion but who did they lose last year to? A rookie-led Utah Jazz by Donovan Mitchell, who had never sniffed the playoffs, who had no experience. He owned them.
You have two perimeter guys, you have an NBA MVP [in Russell Westbrook]. You have Paul George, an All-NBA player. They were owned by a rookie. You had [Westbrook] talking trash to [Ricky] Rubio like, ‘I’m going to shut that blank down.’ If we’re going to sit here and talk about what they need to do, if they couldn’t beat a rookie-led Salt Lake City team, how on earth are they really going to make some noise this year if they are not playing that well?
It may be a bit difficult to compare the Thunder team this year to last year. Of course, there has been some turnover and players are in different roles this year. Plus, George has played much better than he did a season ago.
The Thunder fell to eighth in the Western Conference with the loss on Wednesday and would face the Golden State Warriors if the playoffs started now.
That matchup against Golden State would certainly not be one the team would welcome at this point and it may not bode well for their chances of making a deep playoff run.
OKC has 10 games remaining in the regular season and still has time to turn things around but it is clear they are running out of time to get back on track.
