The Oklahoma City Thunder are steamrolling through their title defense tour, becoming just the third team in NBA history to start a season 23-1 or better after 24 games and boasting a record-setting point differential of +16.2.
On top of all this, with their current pace, they are en route to become just the third team to eclipse the 70-win mark and, more specifically, are even on track to reset the all-time record at 78.
While such factoids would certainly be deemed as sensational on their own, what makes all of this even more ridiculous is the fact that their presumed primary starting five has yet to even log a single minute of action together.
Ideal starting lineup for OKC Thunder has yet to play together
As was the case during their championship-winning campaign last season, the Thunder have been plagued by myriad injuries here in the early stages of 2025-26.
From Jalen Williams missing the first 19 games of the year while recovering from offseason wrist surgery to, more recently, Isaiah Hartenstein going on nearly two weeks of inactivity as a result of a calf strain, Oklahoma City has already seen a whopping 10 different starting lineups.
Of course, none of them have consisted of the coveted Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Hartenstein unit that, just last year, wreaked havoc on the rest of the league by placing in the 97 percentile in point differential (+14.8), 98 percentile in points per 100 possessions (125.8), and the 100 percentile in effective field goal percentage (62.1).
Frankly, this reality is what makes what Oklahoma City is doing all the more astonishing.
Even while playing at sub-full strength up to this point in the season, the Thunder are still blowing their opponents out of the water.
Through these first few months of action, they rank second in points per game (123.0), fifth in offensive rating (120.0), and first in both defensive rating (104.1) and net rating (15.9) while, obviously, leading the league with the best record.
Needless to say, this is a testimony to just how great a basketball mind head coach Mark Daigneault has become. His efforts have been so impressive, in fact, that, even after just 24 games, many are already anointing him as NBA Coach of the Year.
However, above all else, this is simply just another example of how dominant and astonishingly deep this Thunder team has proven itself to be.