This postseason’s Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Dallas Mavericks showdown will be remembered long after the dust settles from their second-round series. The Thunder and the Mavs have already set the stage for a great playoff matchup, with each side trading blows and enjoying moments that hurt the other. The series still has at least one game left to play.

On Wednesday night, Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso offered another interesting perspective on the series by comparing the youthful Thunder team to a younger iteration of the present Mavericks squad.

It’s almost as if OKC is facing up against their own future selves in Dallas. Caruso stated on NBA on TNT that there are two people that can be relied on, and that the rest of the team provides them with additional experience.

The Mavericks have two reliable players, although Caruso refrained from naming names. He was probably talking about Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving’s partnership, which Caruso compared to the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and (possibly) Jalen Williams. In addition to these standout performers, both the Mavericks and the Thunder boast a good core of players who consistently back up their superstars.

Having said that, the Thunder might not be thrilled about being linked to the Mavs in such a way. Nothing is more important to them than being authentic, thus they aren’t attempting to model their NBA career after any other team.

Caruso did make an excellent point, though, and it bears repeating. But for the time being, the Thunder and the Mavs are just concerned with sweeping the series and securing a spot in the Western Conference Finals. While Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook last made it to the Finals in 2016, Luka Doncic and the Mavericks were there as recently as 2022—a year in which Jalen Brunson was still Doncic’s primary postseason ally.

The Thunder as they currently stand are in an uncomfortable predicament following Wednesday’s 104-92 home loss to the Mavs in Game 5. They breezed through the first round matchup with the Pelicans, sweeping the Zion Williamson-less Pels in four games. However, Dallas is demonstrating why the Mavs are not the same as the Pelicans.

On Saturday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, the sixth game of the series will be played in Dallas.