Look ahead: Who should the Utah Jazz be hoping to face in the playoffs?

Oklahoma City Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder are an absolutely fun team to watch this season. They were expected to miss the playoffs after unloading their star duo of Paul George and Russell Westbrook last summer.

They received a lot of nice assets in return for those two stars, including Danilo Gallinari. The Italian star was (and still is) on an expiring contract, which made him very tradeable. A lot of teams in this league could use a stretch four like Gallo to juice up their offense, similar to the effect Bojan Bogdanovic has had on the Utah Jazz.

They received sophomore Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, whose standout rookie season helped the Los Angeles Clippers overachieve to 48 wins and a playoff berth last season. SGA is a really nice young piece to have.

They also received Chris Paul, who seemed like an awkward fit. The Thunder were supposed to be rebuilding, and CP3 was supposed to be helping a contender make the NBA Finals.

Rather than cash in Gallo and CP3 for even more future assets, this team decided to win basketball games, and a lot of them. They haven’t taken a step backwards from last season although the talent on the roster would suggest otherwise.

Their play has been greater than the sum of the parts, and they were tempting for me to take off of the list with their fearlessness.

However, the Jazz managed to beat this Thunder squad just two short years ago. Rudy Gobert was able to neutralize Steven Adams, Joe Ingles became a father to Paul George, and Donovan Mitchell – then a rookie – absolutely delivered when it mattered most.

The last time the Jazz faced a team led by Chris Paul in the playoffs, it was against the Clippers in 2017. The Jazz won, and Chris Paul was becoming more and more frustrated with his teammates and the officials.

Now that Mitchell is two years more developed and seasoned, I would expect the Jazz to take this series away. I’ll be bold and call it a Jazz series in five games.