The Sixers aren’t the only team you should be keeping an eye on in the NBA Bubble
The Philadelphia 76ers suffered their second straight loss Tuesday afternoon, losing to the undefeated-bubble Phoenix Suns by a score of 130-117. Devin Booker, who’s been nothing short of remarkable in Orlando, put up 35 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists to lead Phoenix to their seventh straight victory and put them a half game out of the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
The Sixers, who were without all five of their starters, were led by Alec Burks’ 23 points on 9/17 shooting from the field. Raul Neto provided a spark off the bench, chipping in a career-high 22 points, while Kyle O’Quinn fell one point shy of getting his first career triple-double (9 points/10 rebounds/11 assists).
With the loss, the Sixers move to 3-3 in the bubble and remain the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 42-29 record. With two games to go before the playoffs start, and almost everyone banged up on the squad, it’s most likely that the Sixers will stay in that sixth spot and play the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. Now, it’s still entirely possible for the Sixers to increase their seeding as they’re only one game back of the fifth seed Indiana Pacers. But with their final two games against the Toronto Raptors and the Houston Rockets, and with all the injuries they have, it seems safe to say that the Sixers have their sights set on the playoffs.
However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep watching the remaining seeding games, as there’s another team whose success could be crucial for the Sixers and their future.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, who are the fifth seed in the Western Conference, are 43-27 on the season and hold the ninth best record in the NBA.
Why should you care?
Well, if you recall, the 76ers conducted a trade last February which saw the team trade away former No. 1 overall pick Markelle Fultz to the Orlando Magic. In return, the Sixers received Jonathan Simmons , a top-20 protected 2020 first-round pick, and a 2019 second-round pick.
Now at first glance, this trade seemed pretty underwhelming from a Sixers standpoint considering Fultz was still only 20 at the time and played in only 33 total games for the Sixers. I get that Fultz’s time here was treacherous, but to receive so little for someone who was a first overall pick was very disheartening. Simmons didn’t really contribute during his 15-game stint with the Sixers either as he only averaged 5.5 points per game.
Also, the first-round pick they received is top-20 protected, meaning if the pick lands in the first 20 selections in this year’s draft, the Sixers won’t receive it and it would instead turn into two future second-round picks in 2022 and 2023. The team who owns that pick is none other than the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Going into the year, OKC traded away both Russell Westbrook and Paul George. The expectation was that this team wasn’t going to compete for much and was sure to enter a rebuild, thus forcing the pick to not convey to the Sixers.
But the Thunder have done the exact opposite as Chris Paul has led this team to heights no one could’ve imagined. Surrounded by a solid supporting cast of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Steven Adams, Danilo Gallinari, and Sixth Man of the Year finalist Dennis Schroder, the Thunder have become one of the tougher teams to beat in the NBA.
Philly on the other hand is without their own first-round pick this year due to the Tobias Harris trade, so the hope is the Thunder’s pick can stay outside the top-20 with two games remaining. However, things won’t be easy as the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers are only 0.5 games behind the Thunder in the overall standings. The Jazz only have one seeding game remaining as they play the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night. The Pacers still have two seeding games remaining with matchups against the Rockets and the Miami Heat.
The Thunder are in a similar spot as the Sixers, as they too finish out their seeding games against two top 10 teams in the Heat on Wednesday and the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday. In order for the Sixers to keep the Thunder’s pick, they’ll need either a combination of wins from the Thunder or losses from the Jazz or Pacers. Wins might be hard to come by for OKC as they’ve also been hit with the injury bug as of late. Adams, SGA, Schroder, and Gallinari all sat out their last game versus the Suns, and with OKC already clinching a playoff spot, they might be best with resting their starters until the playoffs.
It’ll be interesting to see how these final games play out, but as a Sixers fan, whose team desperately needs young cheap talent late in the first round, we’ll all need to become Thunder fans for these next couple days. #ThunderUp
