Breaking down the Thunder’s race for the NBA all-time wins record

Fresh off their first championship in franchise history, the Oklahoma City Thunder have kept the momentum rolling early in the 2025-26 season. After a 123-115 win to close out November, over the Portland Trail Blazers — the only team to have beaten the Thunder this season — OKC were 20-1, which already put the squad in rarefied air.

They won the next four, pushing to a 16-game win steak, and becoming just the fourth team in NBA history to start a season 20-1 or better. However, things got a bit rocky after that, with a 6-5 stretch that included three losses to the Spurs inside of three weeks. As of this writing, they're 30-6.

The Thunder already had a hellacious defense last season, but they've somehow leveled up on that end of the floor this year. Halfway through December, they have the league's best defensive rating by a country mile. In fact, the gap between them (104.4) and the second-place Detroit Pistons (110.6) is bigger than the gap between Detroit and the 20th-place Brooklyn Nets (116.9).

The Thunder have come back down to earth but, are still in striking distance of history. What if they get hot again?

What record are the Thunder chasing?

Only two teams in NBA history have topped the 70-win mark in the regular season: The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls and the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors. The Bulls proceeded to win the championship that year — and each of the next two — while the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead in the 2016 NBA Finals. (They proceeded to sign Kevin Durant, broke the NBA and won the next two titles.)

Last year's Thunder won a franchise-record 68 games, which was tied for the fifth-best mark of all time. This year's group currently has an even higher winning percentage.

Best records in NBA history

How many more wins does OKC need to catch the Warriors?

The Thunder have 46 games remaining this season. They need to win at least 39 of them to top the franchise record that they set last season, and 41 of them to become the third team ever to top 70 wins in a season.

To match the 1995-96 Bulls, the Thunder would need to go at least 42-4 over the rest of the season. To match the 2015-16 Warriors, they'd have to go at least 43-3.

To set a new NBA record for the most wins in a season, the Thunder would have to go no worse than 44-2 from here on out. It's not impossible, but their margin for error is shrinking with every loss.

What was the Warriors' record through 36 games?

The 2015-16 Warriors got off to a 24-0 start before they lost their first game, which was by far the best start to a season in NBA history. They were 34-2 through 66 games.

What is the Thunder's current pace?

While it might feel like the Thunder have a real shot to win 70-plus games this season, projection models disagree at the moment.

Basketball Reference's current projections have them at 65.0 wins and 17.0 losses, which would put them outside of the top 10 records all-time. Their best-case projection is 74-8, while their worst-case projection is 53-29. Either way, the Thunder already have a 100 percent chance to make the playoffs and a 99.9 percent chance to win the Northwest Division, according to Basketball Reference's projections.

Oddsmakers are slightly more bullish on the Thunder. FanDuel Sportsbook currently has their win total over/under at 67.5. Still, that would put them short of breaking the Warriors' all-time record.

Best net ratings in NBA history

Even if the Thunder fall short of the 70-win threshold, they're currently on pace to make a different kind of NBA history.

By any objective measure — win/loss record, net rating, etc. — last year's Thunder were one of the best teams in NBA history. This year's version might be even better.

And what's really scary? Thanks to the reeling Los Angeles Clippers, who owe the Thunder their fully unprotected 2026 first-round pick, the 2026-27 iteration of the Thunder might even be better than this year's squad.

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