5 Teams Who Can Challenge the OKC in the NBA Playoffs

After a long season, the NBA Playoffs are finally getting underway, with the action set to heat up over the next couple of months en route to the NBA Finals in June.

The season got underway in October, and while there were plenty of intriguing moments and subplots, there was also a sense that there was a distinct lack of jeopardy: You could hazard a guess at which teams would be heading to the Playoffs, and which teams wouldn’t, before Christmas.

Still, now is the chance to really turn the dial, as every game will count. The key for most teams? Finding a way to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder, the outright favorites in the NBA betting odds for the Championship. The reigning champions were favorites at the start of the season, and they remained in that position all the way through the regular season campaign.

Yet, there are a handful of teams that can stop Shai-Gilgeous Alexander and his teammates. Below, we look at the five teams with the most realistic chance of pulling off a shock:

It has arguably been a surprise to most experts that the Spurs were the main rivals to the OKC in the Western Conference this season. They finished just two games behind the OKC, claiming the NBA’s second-best record overall.

The young team in San Antonio, led by stars of the future like Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper, is maturing rapidly. At this point, it wouldn’t be a shock at all to see the Spurs go all the way. An incredible rebuild and turnaround.

The champions from 2024 had a tumultuous end to the 2025 NBA Playoffs campaign, causing a hasty rebuild of the roster that left many fans skeptical as to the Celtics’ ambitions for this season.

Those fears were allayed as smart acquisitions from the Celtics’ front office steadied the ship, keeping the team in the hunt. Now, the team has the luxury of welcoming back star player Jayson Tatum.

The Celtics have been tipped to win the Eastern Conference, and the team has the grit and nous to take on the OKC – or anyone else from the Western Conference – in the 2026 NBA Finals.

Arguably the team that most neutrals are sleeping on, the Nuggets finished the season a fair distance behind the OKC and Spurs in the Western Conference, yet the team also has what everyone wants in the NBA in the late spring – form.

In fact, the Nuggets reeled off 12 wins in a row to complete the regular season, so they are coming in hot to the Playoffs. They have it tough as the two best-performing teams in the NBA await in the Western Conference Playoffs, but things are looking up.

The Cavs had a decent regular season, though there is still a sense that the team must find an extra gear in the Playoffs. Still, there is a fairly generous route through the Eastern Conference, and they will fancy their chances against teams like the Celtics, Pistons and Knicks later on.

We are moving away from minor into major shock territory here, but the Cavs have a knack of grinding out wins, even when pundits predict that they will fail.

We could have finished this list with the New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, or even the Timberwolves, yet we have gone instead for the Lakers, a team full of experience and quality, though one that is not always full of cohesion.

The main problem is that Luka Doncic got injured recently. The upside, though, is that he will return early in the Playoffs, and that could be the boost needed by Lebron James and co. to deliver another championship for the Lakers.