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The Oklahoma City Thunder won the NBA championship in June. But what if they didn’t?

Oklahoma City won a league-high and franchise-record 68 games last season. As dominant as the Thunder were, they showed vulnerability. There were moments of doubt in every series the Thunder played, including a double-digit deficit in Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets in the conference semifinals and the all-time what-if moment that was Tyrese Haliburton’s injury in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

Ultimately, the Thunder survived, and won. But those close calls were essential to what is happening this year.

“We tried to look at this season as like, if we

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