Last year, the OKC Thunder became just the 29 team in NBA history to win over 60 games in a single season, with their final record set at 68-14.
Now, with months still to go before tip-off to the 2025-26 campaign, the odds-makers already seem to believe that the defending champs could find themselves etching their name into such an exclusive club yet again.
Per ESPN, Oklahoma City is heading into the upcoming season with an over/under win total set at a whopping 62.5, which, though perhaps considered high-hopes when it comes to the aforementioned history of such a number, when discussed on a recent edition of The Hoop Collective Podcast, all pundits involved were rather quick to take the over.
Tim MacMahon, one of the featured personalities on the episode, provided the perfect reason for why.
Thunder won 68 games despite consistently changing their rotation
Right away, the ESPN analyst brought up the fact that, throughout their 2024-25 season, the Thunder were plagued by widespread injuries, specifically noting the facts that Chet Holmgren "missed more than half the season," Isaiah Hartenstein "missed a bunch of time" right out of the gates, and how the coaching staff "managed Caruso's minutes very carefully."
On top of all this, MacMahon reminded listeners that OKC spent ample time developing younger, less experienced talents like Ajay Mitchell and Cason Wallace, which only strengthened his initial statement that "it ain't like they went all-in to get to 68 last year."
Fellow podcast guest and ESPN cohort Tim Bontemps would go on to voice his strong agreement with MacMahon's case, specifically stating that, due to the points raised, "I don't think they're six wins worse."
In fact, he would take things a step further by saying that "they're a young team that all got more experience" thanks to last year's banner-raising run and, because of this, there's an argument to be made that this team could be even better than the one that just rattled off the fifth-most wins of all time.
After taking home their first title of the Sooner State era, the Thunder are heading into their follow-up campaign with a shot at becoming the first squad to repeat since the Warriors back in 2018.
As importantly noted by podcast host and NBA insider Brian Windhorst, they are bringing back the vast majority of the team and, specifically, their core that spearheaded their run, thanks to GM Sam Presti's offseason spending spree.
With all of this in mind and health expected to be more on Oklahoma City's side, it should come as little surprise that the over on 62.5 wins was unanimously taken.