With another win against Minnesota on Wednesday night, the OKC Thunder improved their record to 18-1, the second-best 19-game start in NBA history.
Oklahoma City's dominance is reminiscent of another team that broke the single-season record for wins just a decade ago.
Thunder mirroring Warriors while blazing a completely different path
The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors finished 73-9, cementing themselves as one of the greatest teams in league history.
Led by future Hall-of-Famers Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, Dub Nation featured an offensive attack that kept opposing defenses up at night.
After winning the championship the year prior, Golden State carried its lethal winning formula into the following season. Through fast-paced play and lights-out shooting, the Warriors produced the best, most efficient offense in the league by nearly every metric.
They led the league in points per game, field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and assists per game.
Oklahoma City found its own championship recipe in 2024-25, but it showed no resemblance to Golden State's.
Through lockdown defense and turnovers, the Thunder took home the Larry O'Brien Trophy. This year, they look like they have perfected everything they had already been doing.
As of Friday, the Thunder have a 102.9 defensive rating, 3.7 points better than their mark last year. They're also averaging 10.7 steals per game, up from 10.3 a season ago.
Thunder showing even better metrics than most recent NBA dynasty
During their run, Golden State coasted through the league. They boasted a +10.8 point differential with a 113.5 offensive rating and a 10.6 net rating.
The Thunder are currently blowing these numbers out of the water. They are averaging 1 plus-16.5 point differential with a 119.3 offensive rating and a 16.4 net rating.
While the Thunder have had one of the NBA's easiest schedules so far, OKC still holds signature wins over the Rockets, Lakers, Warriors, and Wolves, with two of the four being 20-plus-point blowouts.
Still, it's important to note that the Thunder will play another six games against teams above .500 before the end of the year.
How the two squads would match up
Historic runs like the one the Thunder are currently on always spark friendly debate, and the same question always arises: Who would win in a hypothetical matchup?
With sharpshooters Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Harrison Barnes, defending the constant barrage of off-ball screens set by Andrew Bogut and company could be a nightmare. OKC has no shortage of defensive-minded guards, but if there is one coach who knows how to get his shooters open, it's Steve Kerr.
Their offense largely ran through Draymond Green, which the Thunder have struggled with in the past. The last time they played a series against an offense that runs through a big man was the Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals, when they nearly lost in a competitive seven-game thriller.
One of the biggest question marks for the Thunder would be whether or not they could keep up with Golden State's shooting. While their team's three-point percentage is slightly down from last year, their overall field-goal percentage is up, and specific players have made strides in improving their stroke from beyond the arc.
SGA has improved his three-point percentage from 37.5 to 41.4, Aaron Wiggins has improved from 38.6 to 41.7, and Cason Wallace has improved from 35.6 to 36.4.
OKC would possess one major advantage
While a series between the two would be competitive, one key area might make the difference.
In 2015-16, the Warriors turned the ball over at the seventh-highest rate in the NBA. With how pesky this year's Thunder squad is on defense, their perimeter defensive attack might turn the ball over to even out any shooting advantage the Warriors may possess, and it might just tip the scales.
It's always fun to play out hypotheticals, and the fact that this season's Thunder team has begun to enter those conversations says a lot about their dominance.
While they still have work to do, the 2025-26 Thunder team has put itself on a path toward NBA greatness.