The defending NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, are off to a roaring start this season with an 18–1 record as of this writing. Through those first 19 games, the Thunder have posted a jaw-dropping 16.47 average point differential, the best mark in NBA history. And who sits in second place on that all-time list? Surprisingly, it’s also the Thunder — the 2024–25 squad — with a 12.87 differential.
From there, the names read like a who’s who of basketball royalty: the 1971–72 Lakers led by Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, and Gail Goodrich (12.28 PD); the 1970–71 Bucks featuring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson (12.26 PD); and the 1995–96 Bulls headlined by a guy you might’ve heard of named Michael Jordan (12.24 PD). For brevity’s sake, let’s just say this stat puts the Thunder in rarefied air among the greatest teams the NBA has ever seen.
Pair that dominance with their current win pace, and an intriguing question emerges: are the Thunder on track to set the all-time single-season wins record? Right now, they’re trending ahead of the 73–9 mark set by the 2016 Golden State Warriors. And they’ve done all this without their All-Star guard Jalen Williams, which has seen reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander step up to average 32.2 points on 54.3 percent shooting.
So the real question is: can the Oklahoma City Thunder actually break the wins record this season?
NBA Hall of Famer and analyst Reggie Miller thinks that while the OKC Thunder is capable of breaking the win record this season, it’s not first and foremost on the team’s mind.
“They could if they wanted to. I don’t think that’s a priority for them,” Miller said. “Again and they’re doing this without J-Dub, by the way, guys. I know. Just like last year, they did that hot start without Chet. Chet played the first game, got hurt and missed, you know, like 50 games after that or something and they continued to win. So, they’re only going to get better once Jalen Williams gets back.”
Reggie continued, “Could they win 50 or 70 and maybe go for the Golden State Warriors record? Perhaps, but I don’t think that’s a priority. Being healthy, playing well, going into the playoffs is, probably, and getting overall number one seed because, as we saw last year, you want a game seven in your building and having the overall best record allows you to do that.”
Former forward Robert Horry, who is the only player in history to win multiple championships with three different teams (the Rockets, Lakers and Spurs) echoed Miller’s sentiment. However, he added an important caveat: with modern load management and a clear focus on winning another championship, the Thunder are unlikely to chase the record unless it falls naturally into their grasp and doesn’t jeopardize their postseason outlook.
“I think they have a shot, but I don’t think coaches care anymore,” Horry said on a recent episode of his Big Shot Bob podcast. “I think if they get so far ahead in the West, they’re gonna play guys strategically just to keep them in shape, but don’t care if they win or lose. It’s gonna be hard, man, cause if you look around the league and the way they load management is so prevalent, I don’t think they will.”
