Even amid their gut-wrenching injury woes to kick off the 2026-27 campaign, the OKC Thunder still find themselves on a collision course with yet another truly historic feat.
Oklahoma City currently finds itself heading into Wednesday night's clash against the Dallas Mavericks boasting an undefeated 4-0 record. Should they pull out a fifth consecutive victory, it will mark their third season in a row where they've started off 5-0.
Never in the association's 80-year existence has a team accomplished such a streak, yet this Thunder team, working its way through such physically and emotionally demanding times, is currently on the precipice of becoming the first.
How's that for resiliency?
Thunder have dealt with injuries all along the way
Maintaining such a dominant level of play even under the perfect circumstances is by no means a simple task.
Of course, doing so amid the trying times the Thunder have had to endure along the way makes this level of consistency all the more impressive, even if they end up falling short of the aforementioned record.
Oklahoma City has unfortunately dealt with substantial injuries in each of these past three seasons.
During the early stages of the 2024-25 campaign, Chet Holmgren sustained a right iliac wing fracture that forced him to miss a total of 50 games.
Last season, J-Dub was sidelined for the first 19 games of the season as he continued to rehab from offseason wrist surgery, only to then suffer from nagging hamstring strains upon his return to action. He would be held to just 33 games on the year as a whole.
Now, just over a week into this new campaign, we see both of these stars shelved due to patellar tendinitis and a dislocated ankle/ fractured fibula, respectively, along with fellow core starter Cason Wallace, who, on the same night as Williams, sustained a surgery-requiring injury in his left shoulder as a result of a labral tear.
Fortunately, the most impactful common denominator over these three years is an absolutely dominant Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the charge.
The reigning two-time MVP is once again shouldering the load for this bruised and battered Thunder squad, as he's posting a stellar 27.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.8 assists per game on 47.8 percent shooting from the floor.
With this ridiculous level of production, along with their elite roster depth, Oklahoma City seems capable of having history repeat itself by keeping things afloat during such chaotic, injury-riddled times.
At the very least, they should be able to stand alone in the record books Wednesday night with a third straight 5-0 start.
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