NBA Power Rankings: Cleveland Cavaliers ruin Christmas

9. team. 149. In just one year, the Oklahoma City Thunder have gone from feeling like the unluckiest team in the NBA (James Harden trade, consecutive injuries to Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, and Kevin Durant, Durant leaving due to a random cap spike) to the luckiest one. Westbrook was able to earn additional money by signing an extension with the Thunder this offseason, then the new Collective Bargaining Agreement allows them to extend Westbrook again AND give him $200 million, finally an injury to Victor Oladipo has allowed them to go deeper in their rotation and allow players like Joffrey Lauvergne and Alex Abrines to shine off the bench. Much like the force in the Star Wars franchise, the Thunder’s luck has balanced itself once again and Westbrook is riding the coattails of the change in luck to an unprecedented MVP-caliber run this season. Through 32 games he has notched 15 triple-doubles –the most triple-doubles recorded in a single season is 41 by Oscar Robertson (during the season he averaged a triple-double). If he keeps up at this rate he would finish the year with about 38, which would be good for second most all-time. Meanwhile, he’s currently averaging a triple-double on the year (league-leading 31.7 PPG, 10.9 APG, and 10.4 RPG) and has shown no signs of slowing down. If Westbrook can get the necessary help from the likes of Oladipo, Steven Adams, and Enes Kanter this team will end the season very close to hitting the 50-win mark.. 20-12. Previous: . Oklahoma City Thunder