The Oklahoma City Thunder face steep competition in the Western Conference to repeat as NBA champions this season. If one of those rivals can torpedo their chances by trading for Ja Morant, the Thunder would be quite pleased.
The Houston Rockets were expected to be one of the West's top teams this season, adding Kevin Durant to a roster that finished as the No. 2 seed last season and had rising talents such as Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson. When point guard Fred VanVleet went down in the preseason to a season-ending injury, however, their chances appeared to vanish.