I would say more recently OKC is becoming a rivalry...at least for the players. Every game emotions seem to be high and things get heated. I'm excited to see what transpires in today's game between the two
First, I don't buy the theory, "surpassing a franchise equals no rivalry"... especially when there's a natural geographical connection and divisional connection. The Philadelphia Eagles are in no way a better franchise than the Cowboys. Eagles have never been better or even an equal franchise, but ask DAL fans if PHI is a rival; ditto Redskins and Giants. There's a reason a city in Texas remains in a northeastern sports division. Rivalries. The Yankees are waaay better than the Red Sox. But even before BOS started winning World Series again, there was always passion between the teams. There's always an extra "want to" in college rivals beating each other regardless of recent seasons. Are rivalries stronger at certain points in time? Yes Do "downtimes" or "surpassing" nullify history and geography? No It's cool though. Many here cheer for the Spurs anyway, and probably would, regardless if the Rockets were better or not.
Rivalry is about the bigger picture to me, not the rival of late so I'd actually put the Spurs first. 1) Spurs (The I-10 Rivalry and the only one with a name) 2) Utah (Enough close playoff series to make anyone hate the other) 3) Mavs (More recently it's gotten to be a good rivalry, this rivalry is moving up the list year by year if you ask me) 4) Lakers (We all know to chant BEAT LA) 5) Sonics/Thunder (just barely nudging out Phoenix)
I'd maybe move the Lakers up a notch. Back in the Hakeem/Shaq days we had some great playoff series against them. And then in the Yao era we had some epic playoff battles when Artest was on our team. And then THEIR team.! Lakers are currently not relevant and have fallen off everyone's radar. But long time rivals nonetheless Still don't like Kobe's smug mug. See ya Kobe. You went out on bottom just what you deserve
