{"id":326982,"date":"2025-12-03T00:03:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T00:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/326982\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T00:03:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T00:03:08","slug":"are-the-thunder-chasing-history-with-20-1-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/326982\/","title":{"rendered":"Are the Thunder chasing history with 20\u20131 start?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> continue to put themselves in the center of nearly every league-wide conversation after pushing their record to 20\u20131, a start matched by only three other teams in NBA history. As the wins pile up, national analysts are beginning to measure this Thunder run not only against the rest of the league, but against basketball\u2019s greatest teams.<\/p>\n

\n Net Rating, Historic Starts and League Context<\/p>\n

According to season-start data referenced this week by The Athletic<\/a>, the Thunder once again lead the NBA in net rating, checking in at +15.2 through 21 games. That figure is 2.4 points per 100 possessions better than last year\u2019s OKC team, which finished with the second-best net rating of the post-merger era, trailing only the legendary 1995\u201396 Chicago Bulls (+13.4).<\/p>\n

As The Athletic<\/a> noted, OKC\u2019s current 20\u20131 opening places them alongside:<\/p>\n

The 2015\u201316 WarriorsThe 1995\u201396 BullsThe 1967\u201368 76ers<\/p>\n

as the only teams ever to win 20 of their first 21 games.<\/p>\n

\n Streak at 12 \u2014 With Warriors Up Next<\/p>\n

The Thunder\u2019s 12-game winning streak will be tested Tuesday at Golden State. The Athletic\u2019s Zach Harper broke down why OKC is entering that matchup as one of the hottest teams in league history and why their recent return of Jalen Williams only raises the ceiling.<\/a><\/p>\n

Williams played his first game since July wrist procedures on Friday, finishing with 11 points, eight assists and four rebounds. Harper noted Williams\u2019 timing looked expectedly rusty, but stressed that Oklahoma City just added \u201can All-NBA player to the league\u2019s best defense\u201d and \u201can All-Defensive-level athlete to a team already dominating everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also joked the Thunder are so deep that \u201cthey should have to forfeit all their future first-round picks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n The Path Ahead: How Long Can This Run Last?<\/p>\n

Harper<\/a> outlined a stretch where OKC could potentially tie or break its own franchise-record 15-game streak:<\/p>\n

Tuesday: at Golden StateFriday: vs. DallasSunday: at Utah (potential streak-tying game)<\/p>\n

If OKC continues winning into next week, the streak could extend into NBA Cup play, where matchups with Phoenix, the Lakers or the Spurs await.<\/p>\n

\n Forecast Model: What Are the Odds?<\/p>\n

On Monday, data analyst Neil Paine, writing on his Substack<\/a> NBA forecast model, used Elo simulations to project how long the Thunder\u2019s streak might continue:<\/p>\n

~50% chance OKC wins three more straight32% chance the streak survives the NBA Cup semifinal<10% chance it extends into Christmas Day1-in-178 chance of tying the 1971\u201372 Lakers\u2019 33-game record<\/p>\n

Paine also noted that if OKC somehow matched that 33-game run, they would sit at 41\u20131 on Jan. 15, a pace even the 1996 Bulls and 2016 Warriors never reached.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to put themselves in the center of nearly every league-wide conversation after pushing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-326982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}