SGA, OKC Thunder poised for repeat
WASHINGTON – Superstar players on new teams and All-Stars sidelined by severe injuries have jumbled expectations, but Oklahoma City remains a championship favorite when when the NBA’s 80th season begins Tuesday.
The Thunder will raise a championship banner on Tuesday when Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets visit while the Los Angeles Lakers entertain the Golden State Warriors in the other opening-night clash.
“It would suck to lose the NBA championship in 2026,” Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters. “That’s the new focus. That’s the new goal.”
The 27-year-old Canadian guard was last season’s NBA Most Valuable Player, NBA Finals MVP and league scoring leader with 32.7 points a game. The three-time NBA All-Star added 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocked shot a game.
A survey of NBA team general managers had 80 percent predicting Oklahoma City would repeat as NBA champion with Cleveland and Denver sharing a distant second on seven percent.
The executives survey had Denver and Houston as the best of the rest in the Western Conference with Cleveland and New York atop the East.
Durant, a two-time NBA champion and 2014 NBA MVP who is a 15-time All-Star forward, was traded from Phoenix to Houston in July. He joins Alperen Sengun, Fred VanVleet and Dorian Finney-Smith in making the Rockets a threat.
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