OKC Thunder: 2020-21 record better than 2019-20’s through 20 games

Coming into the 2020-21 season, many familiar with the NBA were expecting the OKC Thunder to perform as one of the worst teams in the association.

After a Cinderella story-esque 2019-20 run, where they surprised the masses and made it to their 10th postseason in 11 years, Sam Presti and co. had somewhat of a fire sale during the offseason, shipping out the majority of players that had a huge part in their success.

With this decision, it was evident that Oklahoma City was embarking on a new journey in franchise history, as they would set their sights on the future and take part in a rebuild.

Seemingly already ahead of the typical trajectory of such an endeavor, as they came into the season rostering a potential franchise player already in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, savvy veterans in Al Horford & George Hill, and talented youngsters in Luguentz Dort and Darius Bazley, many expected Oklahoma City to be underwhelming in the win-loss column but, at the same time, remain competitive.

The OKC Thunder have surprised people for the second consecutive season

Of the aforementioned expectations, only one has become a reality, and it may not be the one you may have expected.

This team’s competitive nature has not only kept them in games during the early portion of this season so far but has led them to a 9-11 record, placing them just three games back from the 8th seeded San Antonio Spurs.

What’s interesting about this 20-game stretch is that, not only have the OKC Thunder exceeded expectations, but they’ve managed to surpass last season’s record through this same span (8-12).

While we still do expect moves to be made as we begin to approach the March 25th deadline, as we believe there will be several teams interested in striking a deal with the franchise, Oklahoma City’s play thus far has been inspirational and, surprisingly, better than what we saw at this point in the season last year.

We at TI hope this impressive play continues throughout the remainder of the schedule.