We’re a quarter of the way through the NBA season, which means it’s a good time to step back and assess where teams stand and which tier they are in. OKC seems to be on its own.

1. Oklahoma City Thunder

(23-1, last week No. 1)

The Thunder have been rolling through everyone and everything in their path, and with that they deserve to be heavy favorites to win the Emirates NBA Cup. OKC reached the Cup Finals a year ago, only to have one of their worst shooting nights of the season against Milwaukee. The one thing that could stop the Thunder is the absence of reigning MVP (and arguably the current frontrunner to repeat) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He sat out Sunday against Utah with an elbow issue — and they still won by 30. SGA is expected to be good to go on Wednesday in an NBA Cup game agai

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