Thursday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder host the San Antonio Spurs in Game 6 of their playoff series. Without a doubt, it's the biggest game of the playoffs so far and the ripple effects of what happens effect the entire league, including the Wizards.
Here's a look at the four of the ways the big game could affect Washington's future:
1. It could drive the final nail in the KD2DC coffin
Granted, KD2DC has either been dead or near death for quite some time. But if the Thunder take down the Spurs, it's even harder to find a reason why he'd want to leave Oklahoma City. He already has an all-world teammate, the Thunder can offer him more money, and if they're good enough to take down the 67-win Spurs there's really no reason to leave (unless Golden State blows them out of the water in the Conference Finals).
2. If the Thunder win, Dion Waiters would reach a Conference Finals before Bradley Beal
Ugh.
3. It says something about Scott Brooks' impact on the Thunder
If you thought the Thunder's struggles in the regular season were an indication that Brooks was a better coach than Billy Donovan, then you have to concede if the Thunder take down the Spurs the gap isn't quite as wide as it seemed a couple of months ago. Maybe it means they're both really good coaches, maybe it means they're both overrated coaches who rode their superstars on deep playoff runs, or maybe it means they're both somewhere in-between.
Whichever way you feel, it's hard to argue that if the Thunder continue to succeed without Brooks it takes some of the luster off of his hiring in Washington.
4. This series serves as the latest referendum on roster construction
Is it better to build a team with great depth or find elite talent and cobble a supporting cast around it? The answer varies each year depending on who succeeds, but inevitably people will try to emulate what the winner of this series did this summer.
The Wizards are in the unique position where they could pivot either way this summer. They could go after a big fish, whether it's Durant or someone else, or they could try to follow the Spurs' path and surround their sturdy starting unit with reserves who can maintain leads when the starters are off the floor and keep their playing time down. We'll see this summer if the team is taking notes on what happens on Thursday.