A funny thing happened on the first full day of NBA free agency — winning the Western Conference got easier while winning in the Western Conference got harder.
Oh, sure, that’s not as crazy as Kevin Durant ending up in New York but not going to the Knicks. Or Troy Daniels being the Lakers’ biggest acquisition in the first 24 hours of free agency.
But for teams around the West, including the Thunder, the landscape has changed dramatically.
For starters, the foregone conclusion is gone. Golden State is no longer the inevitable champ in the West.