NBA 2026: Could One of the Western Conference's Teams Ride Their Current Wave All the Way to the Playoffs?
Mon, Jan 12, 2026
by
CapperTek
Is
anyone ready to address the elephant on the NBA court yet? After sweeping all
before them last season en route to a maiden Larry O'Brien, the Oklahoma City
Thunder started their title defense in blistering fashion. 24 wins against just
one defeat as recently as December 10th, OKC suddenly looks tired, going 8-6 in
their 14 games since, and suddenly appearing as mortal as the rest of us. And
it's not just that they're losing—it's how they're losing.
Getting
boat-raced by 27 points
to a Charlotte Hornets team that's barely scraping .500? That's not championship
fatigue. That's a wake-up call nobody in Oklahoma City wanted to hear. When
your franchise guy goes 7-for-21 against a team actively trying to lose games
for draft positioning, you've got problems.
Of
course, online betting sites still list the reigning champions as the
overwhelming favorites to retain their title this season. The latest NBA lines at Bovada price the Thunder as short
as +120 to repeat as kings. But while they've been stumbling around like they
partied too hard on New Year's Eve, three Western Conference teams have
suddenly caught fire. Can any of them ride their current hot streaks all the
way into the playoffs - and potentially beyond? Let's dig in.
Expensive Suns Roster Finally
Starts to Click
Phoenix
has gone 8-2 over their last ten games, and honestly? It's about damn time.
The
Suns are 22-15 overall, good enough for seventh in the West, and Vegas makes
them a lock for the postseason at -350. But before those in Tinsel Town start
to get excited, laughable +40000 championship odds suggest that it will be yet
another early playoff exit, should they even make it to the dance.
Since Kevin Durant's
blockbuster departure for Houston, Devin Booker has taken over as the
offense's orchestrator-in-chief, averaging 25.5 points per game, including a
mighty 31-point explosion in the recent victory against the Knicks, Phoenix's
fourth in five games. But it's the gritty defense that has Suns fans dreaming
that their team may have turned a corner.
Embed
tweet here - https://x.com/bovadaofficial/status/2008207903778537882?s=46&t=Jxc74bqcdlQ9Bjed4TR1Jw
They're
averaging 10.6 steals per game, which leads the West, and when you combine ball
movement with defensive activity, you're cooking. Expert breakdowns have been
harping on their improved rotations, and you can see it: they're switching
crisper, helping faster, and recovering better. Booker and Dillon Brooks aren't
just scoring anymore; they're actually buying in on defense.
The
schedule's not brutal coming up, and they've got plenty of home cooking at
Footprint Center. If they string together another two weeks of this 8-2 caliber
play, we're suddenly talking about a top-five seed with home-court advantage in
round one.
Don't
worry, we can hear you. You've been burned by the Suns before. We all have. But
this upturn in form feels different. This feels like a team that finally
figured out what they're supposed to be.
Warriors Dynasty Won't Go
Quietly
The
Warriors going 7-3 in their last ten shouldn't surprise anyone who's watched
this franchise over the past decade. They're 22-12, sitting sixth in the West,
and those -650 playoff odds look very attractive. What's wild, though, is that
+3000 number for the championship. That's not "impossible." That's
"if Steph Curry gets hot in a seven-game series, anything can
happen." And if you've been around this league long enough, you know
better than to count out the Baby-Faced Assassin when the stakes get real, even
at the age of 37.
Draymond
Green went through an absolute nightmare stretch—minus-56 over 15 games, worst
on the team by a country mile—but he's rebounded hard over the last three
contests. Better passing. Fewer stupid turnovers. The veteran savvy that makes
Golden State so dangerous. Jonathan Kuminga's been maddeningly inconsistent
(he's been a healthy DNP recently, which tells you everything about where his
head's at), but when he locks in, the Warriors get that explosive slashing
athleticism they've been missing since their peak dynasty years.
They've
got eleven home games at Chase Center in January. Eleven! Win the vast majority
of them, and suddenly they're positioned amongst the conference's heavy
hitters. It would take a brave punter to bet against them from there.
Clippers Grinding Their Way
Back
The
Clippers have gone 8-2 in their last ten games, winning seven of their last
eight overall. They're 20-18, sitting tenth in the West with +175 playoff odds,
still unfancied by the bookies despite their recent uptick. Those +10000
championship odds tell you exactly what the sharps think - spoiler: not much.
But still, this recent surge has at least shown that Los Angeles' perennial
underachievers do still have some fight left in them.
Kawhi
Leonard is averaging 27.9 points per game and moving like he's finally, finally
healthy after years of load management since he led Toronto to the crown. The
real story, though? Rookie Kobe Sanders has been absolutely balling out—20
points and 7 rebounds on 56.3 percent shooting in the recent 103-102 thriller
against the Warriors. When your first-year guy is playing with that kind of
poise, the rest of the team rallies around them, and that's exactly what's
happened at the state-of-the-art Intuit Dome.
But
here's the next problem that they need to overcome. The Clippers are 4-13 on
the road. That's not struggling away from home; that's borderline catastrophic,
and it's exactly why the bookers make them near 2-1 dogs to reach the
postseason. But—and this is a big but—if they can steal just a couple more road
wins and protect home court the rest of the way, they're absolutely in the
play-in conversation.
We're not saying that they're going to win the championship; no one would be that stupid. But those +175 postseason odds? That looks like value country.