What's in it for the Thunder?

Oklahoma City didn't have the cleanest run to the title, but they got it. What now? Good morning. Let's basketball.

As I've written ad nauseum over the past few months, the NBA is deeply unsettled and there is – more than ever – no guarantee that last season's results will look anything like this season's results. The league's competitive balance reforms have worked. It's harder than ever to keep a contender in tact and easier than ever to build one from scratch.

And yet: the Thunder really are the favorite to win it all and become the first team since the 2017-18 Warriors to repeat as champions. They have a top-3 player in the world in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who remains safely within his prime as a player and has (knock on wood) largely avoided injury since OKC stopped tanking. They have two rising stars behind him, a deep roster filled with a mix of young players and a few key veterans, a very well-regarded coaching staff, one of the best general managers in the league and a financial runway given the overall youth of the team.

How's the next chapter of this spill out on the page?

That's what we'll find out this season, and it should be interesting to watch. Here are some storylines I could see coming.