Projecting OKC Thunder, SGA With Past 65-Win Teams

The 2024-25 Oklahoma City Thunder joined a 21-team club after suffering two straight double-digit defeats for the first time all season, pulling away from the Los Angeles Lakers 136-120 on April 8 to reach 65 regular season wins. Oklahoma City closed its campaign with three more victories to tie the 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers and 1972-73 Boston Celtics for the fifth-most in NBA history.

Some encouraging news for the Thunder: 15 of the prior 21 won that season's NBA Finals.

The 2016-17 Golden State Warriors, which added superstar Kevin Durant to a star-studded core the prior offseason, were the last team that met this criteria. They racked up 67 regular season wins and went a mind-boggling 16-1 in the playoffs — suffering their only loss with a three-game Finals advantage already in hand.

During the following season, the Houston Rockets brought in longtime All-Star Chris Paul, enjoyed James Harden's three-level scoring and rode rampant outside volume to the league's No. 1 offense. However, a Paul hamstring injury and historically unlucky 0-for-27 3-point stretch during Game 7 of the Conference Finals against Golden State doomed their championship hopes.

The 2006-07 Dallas Mavericks and 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs were the only two 65-win squads that lost before winning two playoff rounds, with the latter overwhelmed by the Thunder's two-headed monster (Durant and Russell Westbrook) and physicality. Oklahoma City took two games in San Antonio despite the Spurs losing a record one home contest all year.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led his team and the entire NBA in scoring this season, totaled 994 more points than Jalen Williams — the third-largest gap between the 22 teams' No. 1 and No. 2 scorers. On the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 1,027 more points than Oscar Robertson, while on the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan scored 995 more points than Scottie Pippen. To put it simply, Gilgeous-Alexander is in rarified air here.

His ultimate objective now: Join the 10 leading scorers on 65-win squads who won Most Valuable Player and the title. That list contains Wilt Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Jordan (twice), Shaquille O'Neal, LeBron James and Stephen Curry. Among these current and future Hall of Famers, 1966-67 Chamberlain (no award yet) and 2014-15 Curry were the only two who did not also secure Finals Most Valuable Player.

Oklahoma City's path toward 16 wins is not as straightforward as its regular season dominance would imply — even an optimistic Basketball Reference projection places its title odds at slightly higher than a coin flip. Still, employing the NBA's most consistent scorer and No. 1 defense puts the Thunder in an ideal place entering the true games of consequence.

The Thunder will host Game 1 of the first round this Sunday, April 20 at 12 p.m. CST. It will face the No. 8 Memphis Grizzlies or Dallas Mavericks depending on tonight's Play-In Tournament game.