The way things are going, will OKC make the playoffs?

[finchyyy]

With the West being super-stacked and the fact you'd need about 50 wins to make the playoffs, will they make it? I think there's a decent chance chance they don't, which is crazy.

[Booz Vivic]

When they'll have Durant and Westbrook back, they're gonna need one of the best regular seasons ever from that point to make it.

Probably more than decent chance they won't make it. If they were in the East however.

[Cocaine80s]

Theyll still make it. But If Durant suffers a setback and can't come back in December then they have no chance

[finchyyy]

If they do make it, they'd be one of the scariest 7-8 seed teams going around too, which makes things even more fun. Durant is going to have to ball out of he's mind this year.

[Magic731]

Would probably say a lot about Durant and Westbrook if they are able to lead their team to a playoff seed while in the wild wild west.

[kurple]

Would probably say a lot about Durant and Westbrook if they are able to lead their team to a playoff seed while in the wild wild west.

what? They should make the playoffs with ease if Brook isnt out for 2+ months

[finchyyy]

what? They should make the playoffs with ease if Brook isnt out for 2+ months

How many games are Durant/Westbrook missing though? If it's a good 20 games or so, when they get back they'll have to win 40-45 games out of the last 60, which would be impressive.

[Magic731]

what? They should make the playoffs with ease if Brook isnt out for 2+ months

Not necessarily. I doubt they are going to win many games without either of them and they should both be out for another 4 weeks. That is going to be A LOT of ground to cover up in such a tough conference.

[kurple]

teams always have some growing pains in the beginning of the season.

better for brook to miss some time in november than march.

i doubt the gap will be THAT big when Brook gets back.

[BigTicket]

I think they will still make quite easily unless they have additional injuries.

They have 13 games left in November, many of them quite easy. I think they will have a record of something like 4-9 over that period, which would make them 5-12 overall by the time Durant/Westbrook return. If they can win 70% of their games after that, they will end with 50 wins for the season, which will be sufficient to make the playoffs.

Even if Durant and Westbrook return a little later, OKC can still make it by winning at a higher rate than 70%, and I think they are good enough to do so. When healthy this is a team that can win ~75%.

Also they might not need a full 50 wins to make the playoffs, 46-48 could be enough.

[SwayDizzle]

Not necessarily. I doubt they are going to win many games without either of them and they should both be out for another 4 weeks. That is going to be A LOT of ground to cover up in such a tough conference.

agreed. the West this year is stacked. a five game differential is enough to leave a team trailing significantly.

[SOD 21]

One of the problems for Oklahoma City is that I don't think Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant will return by the start of December and will most likely be closer to middle of the month in December. The reports that I have read says they will be reevaluated at the end of November or early December from their surgeries, which means they could easily not return for another couple of weeks after that.

This is a guess, of course, but I don't see them returning until the middle of December and that December 14th game against the Phoenix Suns looks like a decent possibility barring any setbacks for them. That means this ragtag group would need to play 23 games without them and I can easily see them going 8-15.

There would be 59 games remaining at that time and they won 72% of their games last season, so that same winning percentage of 72% over their final 59 games would mean a 42-17 record or a total of winning 50 games total.

This assumes, of course, that they come back by the middle of December, at the latest, and don't suffer any additional setbacks for the rest of the season with additional injuries. Oklahoma City will most likely make the playoffs but it is certainly far from a given. They will be about the scariest seventh or eighth seed of all time.

[Magic731]

teams always have some growing pains in the beginning of the season.

better for brook to miss some time in november than march.

i doubt the gap will be THAT big when Brook gets back.

The argument can then be made that with all the injuries the Thunder have, they will have to go through a second set of growing pains once everyone returns. This is why it would say a lot about the two of them, if they can overcome this.

[archkiller]

They will get 8th seed and meet spurs in 1st round.

[StephHamann]

no way the league will allow OKC to miss the playoffs