When people discuss this OKC Thunder team, the duo that's automatically thought of is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams.
Considering both are utilized as the respective number one and two options on the team and were the club's lone All-Star and All-NBA selections last season, this should come as no surprise.
However, in order for Oklahoma City to raise its level of play even further than it did during its title-winning 2024-25 campaign, ESPN's Tim Bontemps is looking at the tandem of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein to lead the charge.
Upping Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein minutes should help Thunder
In a recent piece, the senior NBA writer tabbed the Thunder as one of five teams he expects to "exceed expectations" this coming season.
While acknowledging that it may seem like an unlikely task from the outside perspective, especially because they just won the NBA Championship and became one of only 22 teams ever to win 65 or more games, he tabbed three primary factors that he anticipates will help.
First, he believes that the East will be "even weaker" after the injuries to numerous star players in the conference, specifically those out in Indiana and Boston. For reference, OKC lost just once in 30 games played against their Eastern Conference foes.
Second, he noted a "fully returning roster that should continue improving." As things currently stand, the Thunder roster consists of players who logged 99.2 percent of their playoff minutes last year.
The last factor mentioned was his confidence that the frontcourt pairing of Holmgren and Hartenstein is likely to see more playing time together and, based on their limited action last season, could have them bound for even more than a 65-win season.
Should this happen, it would make them only the third team to ever match or surpass this particular total the next year.
Due to varying injuries to both parties, Chet and I-Hart played just 679 possessions alongside one another during last year's regular season.
However, in such sets, the Thunder were truly dangerous, as they ranked in the 96 percentile in point differential (+13.5), 95 percentile in points per 100 possessions (123.4), 99 percentile in effective field goal percentage (60.8), and the 88 percentile in opponents' points per 100 possessions (109.9) during the regular season.
As pointed out by Bontemps, the Thunder saw a 59-10 record when either one of these big men was active, equating to a ridiculous 70-win pace.
This dominant duo missed a whopping 75 combined games last season, and Oklahoma City still managed to finish with 68 wins, tied for the fourth-most in league history. Should both stay healthy, Bontemps is more than confident that this team could exceed their already lofty expectations of 64 wins.