NBA Insiders: Thunder’s Greatest Western Conference Threat Is Luka Dončić and the Mavs…

If the Dallas Mavericks can weather this recent storm of injuries to Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving to make the playoffs, people around the NBA consider them the biggest threat to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference.

On the latest episode of The Hoop Collective Podcast (starts at 21:13 mark), ESPN’s Tim MacMahon noted from discussions with people in the league that a healthy Mavs team is viewed as the primary challenger for the Thunder to reach the NBA Finals.

Healthy is the operative word for the Mavs right now because they are going to be without their top two players for the foreseeable future.

Dončić suffered a calf strain during Dallas’ loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Mavs announced on Dec. 27 he will be re-evaluated in a month. He has dealt with calf issues in the past, including an injury that cause him to miss the first three games of a first-round playoff series against the Utah Jazz in April 2022.

MacMahon and Shams Charania reported on Monday that Irving will miss at least one to two weeks with a bulging disc in his back.

Dallas was able to snap a five-game losing streak on Tuesday night with a 118-97 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. It was the first time in 11 games this season the Mavs won a game that both Dončić and Irving sat out.

The Mavericks had a slow start this season with a 5-7 record through 12 games before getting hot. They won 14 of their next 17 games and climbed as high as the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference in mid-December.

Despite this recent rough patch, the Mavs are still clinging to the fifth spot in the West at 21-16 overall. There is very little margin of error with just 2.5 games separating them from the Golden State Warriors as the No. 10 seed.

We know the Mavericks at full strength can cause problems for the Thunder. The two teams met in the Western Conference semifinals last season, with Dallas winning in six games.

Oklahoma City has taken another step forward so far this season with a 30-5 record, despite not having Chet Holmgren since Nov. 10 due to a pelvic fracture. The Thunder rank first in the NBA in defensive rating and net rating.

The Mavs and Thunder have split their first two head-to-head meetings this season. They will play two more games during the regular season in the span of six days on Jan. 17 and 23.

As long as the Mavs can keep their head above water while Dončić and Irving are out, we know from last season they can be as dangerous as any team in the West in the playoffs.