Basketball: Tall Blacks could benefit from Thunder exit

Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams. Photo / AP

The Oklahoma City Thunder's misfortunes may have a silver lining for Basketball New Zealand.

Basketball New Zealand's now expecting to know far sooner than expected whether Steven Adams will front for the Tall Blacks in August's Olympic qualifiers against Australia.

The Kiwi centre's Oklahoma City Thunder side has failed to advance to the NBA playoffs. Oklahoma City were this season hit by injuries to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, with Durant shut down entirely last month.

Basketball New Zealand CEO Iain Potter said it means Adams will most likely be returning to New Zealand shortly, that will hopefully bring forward the timeframe of a decision.

"I talked to Kenny McFadden last week as well, he said Steven will be back in New Zealand some time soon. So I'll let the dust settle and give OKC a call next week."

Potter said he's already been in touch with OKC over the past week, with communications being very positive.

He says their NBA defeat provides some extra confidence, and he's had good correspondence with OKC over the past week.

"They're aware of the dates, and there's also a protocol between the NBA and FIBA around access to Steven in the middle of July at the earliest."

"They've expressed that that they're far more relaxed about his potential availability now that he's finished his second year. He's not a rookie, though even just a few days ago they were saying those sorts of decisions have to wait."

The Golden State Warriors are the favourites to continue their domination all the way to claim the NBA championship.

The Warriors will play the Pelicans in the first round, seven-game series beginning on Sunday in Oakland.

Likely standing in the Warriors' way are the reigning champion San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs play the Los Angeles Clippers and if victorious could end up facing the Warriors in the Western Conference finals.

The other Western Conference match-ups are the Portland Trailblazers against the Memphis Grizzlies and the Houston Rockets against the Dallas Mavericks.

In the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers will play the Boston Celtics in the first round and the Chicago Bulls take on the Milwaukee Bucks.

If the Cavs and Bulls are successful they will face each other in the second round.

The other first round Eastern Conference match-ups are the Atlanta Hawks against the Brooklyn Nets and the Toronto Raptors versus the Washington Wizards.

- With AAP