With the first quarter of the 2024-25 NBA season already gone, some believe the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks have already separated themselves from the rest of the pack in the Western Conference.

An opposing general manager told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon last week that the Thunder and Mavericks “are clearly the two best West teams.”

The Thunder rank first in the West with a 23-5 record and have won each of their last eight games. Oklahoma City fell to the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Cup championship but appears driven to contend for an NBA title this season. Star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is once again in the running for NBA MVP, ranking third in the league with 30.6 points per game.

Following a slow start that saw them open the year with a 7-7 record, the Mavs appear to have rounded into form and rank fourth in the West at 19-10. Perhaps even more impressively, Dallas has gone 6-2 in games that star point guard Luka Dončić has missed, as MacMahon called this “the best the roster has looked” in his seven-year career.

The Mavs are set to face the Minnesota Timberwolves (14-14) on Christmas Day in a rematch of the 2024 Western Conference Finals. The Thunder will be back in action on Thursday against the Indiana Pacers (15-15).

Dallas and Oklahoma City split their first two meetings of the season and will face each other again on Jan. 17.