The 2024-25 Oklahoma City Thunder improved very quickly compared to other teams that racked up at least 80 total wins and has retained over 99% of its playoff minutes this offseason. No starter is older than 27 years old (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Isaiah Hartenstein), and no rotation player is older than 31 (Alex Caruso). Oklahoma City has prioritized defense during and after its recent rebuild, receiving less variance than teams putting all their stock into outside shooting and/or a few players.
The Thunder’s youth, continuity, defense, star power and depth are overwhelming reasons to put stock into the defending champion moving forward. The past projects the future accurately more often than not, and another factor is how 80-win teams have performed in their follow-up campaigns.
The 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers, with All-Stars Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Gail Goodrich, won a league-record 33 straight games during the regular season. They became the first team to achieve 80 cumulative wins by beating the home New York Knicks in Game 4 of the 1972 NBA Finals, 116-111, in overtime on May 7. Los Angeles won the championship two days later through Chamberlain’s 24 points on 10-for-14 shooting, 29 rebounds and four assists.
The following season, the Lakers went 60-22 with a +7.6 net rating (No. 1 in NBA) and earned the same three All-Stars. Two more playoff series wins over Western Conference opponents preceded a five-game Finals rematch with New York, in which the Knicks took revenge. Still, 69 more wins with a runner-up finish was a prosperous season by any stretch of the imagination.
Sixteen years after winning a title thanks to offseason acquisitions Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, the 2023-24 Boston Celtics became the most recent team on the list by trading for Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday and securing 16 of 19 playoff games. All-Star forwards Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum won their first rings in their eighth and seventh postseason runs with the franchise, respectively, emphasizing the difficulty of standing above 29 other teams.
Boston followed up its 80-win season with a 67-win 2024-25 campaign — in which just six came from the Eastern Conference playoffs. Tatum suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in Game 4 of the second round’s fourth quarter on May 12, and the Knicks advanced to the conference finals with a 119-81 Game 6 victory on May 16.
Last season’s Celtics tied the 2013-14 Miami Heat for the fewest single-season wins immediately after an 80-win season. One team accumulated 61 victories with a +9.4 net rating throughout the regular season, and the other reached its fourth straight Finals.
The average follow-up team in this sample: 61.2 regular-season wins, a +7.6 regular-season net rating, 13.3 playoff wins and a +5.8 playoff net rating with 2.6 All-Stars.
Eight of the 14 previous 80-win teams won the championship the following year, four made the Finals and two lost in the second round — both 21st-century Boston squads.
Needless to say, the odds are in Oklahoma City’s favor next season.
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