The "other teams don't get long trips" narrative is over-stated, because other teams will often have single home games mixed in with multiple road games, effectively functioning identically to a road game as far as travel is concerned. For example, take a look at the stretch in which the Thunder (mentioned in the OP as having no "long trips") are currently in the middle:
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From February 26 through March 14, they play 10 games in 17 days (including 3 back-to-backs), never playing two consecutive games in the same city. Consider carefully--is that not significantly more difficult than our 7-game stretch?