NBA writer mentions 2 OKC games we should all be looking forward to this season

There are plenty of intriguing matchups in the newly minted 82-game schedule of the Oklahoma City Thunder this forthcoming 2024-25 NBA season. Added to the fact that the team seized 25 national television coverage, excitement and anticipation are truly off the charts on how they'll make the most out of their chances to live up to their championship hype.

But as it is, there are considerable matches for OKC, which we can argue as cut above the rest, and those duels would certainly draw significant attention and test their might to compete at their best.

Clash of the Titans in the West

In the wake of the recent unveiling made by the NBA for every team's schedule in the looming regular season, Zach Harper of The Athletic listed 35 games in his must-watch list. And intriguingly, he got two Thunder games encircled within his calendar.

Harper looks forward to OKC’s December 31 face-off with the Minnesota Timberwolves. This serves as a heavyweight showdown between two titans from the West, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will go at it against Anthony Edwards.

Both teams split their regular season series last 2023-24. As such, we can expect nothing but an intense fight coming from these two.

“This should be an extremely fun and intriguing matchup like we saw last season. This is the first of four matchups between the teams. You have two of the biggest young stars facing off in Edwards and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. And they pretty much have the exact same role for their respective teams,” Harper wrote.

A Finals preview?

Lastly, Harper highlights the Thunder's home showcase against the reigning champion Boston Celtics on Jan. 5, which he views as a preview of a possible Finals battle later in June.

Oklahoma City and Boston are knotted in their two-game regular season series from last year. And after a massive retooling, this offseason by bringing in Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein, the odds of Shai and Co. going head-to-head against the stacked C's team would be intriguing to watch.

“I firmly believe the Thunder made the Alex Caruso trade to be more like the defending champion Celtics. They brought in Hartenstein to give them rebounding and interior presence. It also gives them the total package in trying to win the West and take the crown from Boston. The Celtics are unquestionably the kings of the East, and it’ll be really tough to take them down. They should be back in the finals if they’re healthy or even relatively healthy. Both times we get this matchup this year, we should see incendiary basketball,” Harper noted.

Of course, other pivotal games for OKC truly deserve more emphasis. But battling both Minnesota and Boston would surely offer the team a needed seriousness of play in identifying their capabilities to win it all.

Related: Hartenstein hilariously chooses between Shai and Chet in recent video