Milwaukee Bucks veteran point guard Patrick Beverley isn't one to keep his thoughts to himself, especially if it's about basketball. Recently, Beverley dropped some sort of an NBA hot take regarding the Oklahoma City Thunder and why he doesn't believe that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company will not be able to make it to the 2024 NBA Finals despite the outstanding season the young team is showing.
Patrick Beverley isn't a big believer in Oklahoma City
During a recent episode of the Pat Bev Pod, the podcast Beverley hosts with Adam Ferrone, the former Arkansas Razorbacks star said that he told Gilgeous-Alexander that Oklahoma City is not yet ripe enough for an NBA Finals appearance and that the Thunder aren't beating the Denver Nuggets for the Western Conference crown.
“All right, I got you. See y'all in June,” Beverley said of what Gilgeous-Alexander told him one time.
“No, I ain't gonna make it. Why are they gonna make it? Too young? Too young. It's just tough to be Denver, man. That's all. There's no discredit to any team. So it's like a tough to beat,” Beverley added.
Beverley and the Bucks defeated the Thunder, 118-93, on Mar. 24, which likely added more fuel to Beverley's stance on Oklahoma City. However, Milwaukee and Oklahoma City have one more date before the end of the 2023-24 NBA regular season, with the Bucks visiting the Thunder on Apr. 12 for their penultimate game prior to the postseason.
The Thunder are doing just fine
Regardless of what Beverley thinks of the Thunder, Gilgeous-Alexander and company have made it abundantly clear that they're a team to reckon with this season. In fact, the Thunder, at the time of this writing, have a better record than the reigning NBA champions. After beating the New York Knicks, 113-112, on the road Sunday night, the Thunder improved to 52-22 — half a game ahead of everyone in the Western Conference, including the Nuggets, who are second with a 52-23 slate.
Sure the Thunder are young, as they have an average age of 25.2 in the 2023-24 NBA season, but they have performed consistently at a high level. For what it's worth, Oklahoma City lost its first meeting this season with the Nuggets before winning the next three meetings with the defending champs. That speaks volumes about how ready the Thunder are for the playoffs, though, the postseason is still a different animal. That's not to mention that the Thunder lack experience in games played beyond the regular season. They haven't been to the playoffs since exiting in the first round of the 2020 postseason.
Can the Thunder win the 2023-24 NBA championship?
It has already been well-established this season that the Thunder, who have only eight games remaining in their regular-season schedule, are a problem. Many still view them as nothing more than a nascent team, but with an MVP-caliber player in Gilgeous-Alexander and an offense and defense that is considered elite, who's to say that Oklahoma City will not be a serious contender for an NBA title? Oklahoma City is ranked fourth in the NBA with an adjusted offensive rating of 118.8 and fifth with a 112.1 adjusted defensive rating. Their adjusted net rating is also second-best in the entire league, with the Boston Celtics the only team with a better rating.
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