The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder have turned many into believers to become the NBA's first back-to-back champs since the Golden State Warriors. Amid a trend that seemingly repeats itself at least once every decade, Oklahoma City earned the benefit of the doubt in a new NBA preseason survery conducted annually by ESPN. While the competition that awaits the champion Thunder is stiff, OKC is the overwhelming favorite to repeat.

In the NBA survey, only the Denver Nuggets received votes over the champion Thunder, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps.

“It's no surprise that the Thunder, coming off winning the NBA title and having a roster with only two players over 27 years old, is the heavy favorite to win the title,” Bontemps wrote. “But while Denver received a couple votes, due to the

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