In an aborted article preparing for the 2024–2025 Thunder season, my angle was going to be that the epoch of good times had passed for Oklahoma City fans. The pinnacle of being a Thunder fan, I was going to suggest, was after Game 1 of the 2024 Western Conference Semifinals.
Clearly, that would have been proven wrong.
At that moment, though, the team was coming off a first-round sweep of New Orleans and had just dismantled the Dallas Mavericks to open the next round. Vibes were at an all-time high. The players were barking in postgame interviews. The fans were barking during key moments of games. All of it was buoyed by an era of low expectations.
The city of OKC was spoiled by early success. After a short honeymoon period of awful basketball, the team rocketed to success behind rapid development of three players that became league MVPs. Within three years of moving away from Seattle, the franchise was treating these neophyte NBA fans to playoff basketball. Barely five years later, they were hosting NBA Finals games.
From there, the next decade was wracked with disappointment:
- James Harden was traded.
- Patrick Beverley knocked Russell Westbrook out of the playoffs.
- A Jones fracture took Kevin Durant out for a season.
- The team wasted a 3–1 advantage against the Warriors in the Conference Finals, and Durant joined the conquerors.
- Brief glimpses of hope always ended in first-round playoff exits.
- Two superstars asked to be traded.
- A pandemic happened, hiding a surprisingly good team that also got bounced out of the first round in front of an empty gym.
- The team spent two years trying to lose and got labeled as the “black eye of the NBA” by a Ringer host.
It was that ecosystem that reset Thunder fan expectations to a point where simply qualifying for the 2023 play-in tournament was enough to create frenzied excitement. The team followed that accomplishment by becoming the youngest team to ever have the best record in their conference (it was a tie, but they won the tiebreaker). That sudden success culminated in that Game 1 against Dallas.
After that, the wheels fell off. Dallas won the next two and finished the series in six games, with the last game ending on a heartbreaking play where Shai Gilgeous-Alexander blocked a three-point shot, but because the player didn’t lose the ball, he instead got three free throws. Fans that were just happy to be in that position quickly converted to fans disappointed at the team choking.
This was where last season started. After acquiring two veterans expected to fill some of the team’s few shortcomings, fandom shifted to a championship-or-bust mentality.
I’ll be damned if the team didn’t exceed even those lofty expectations.
What Oklahoma City witnessed was one of the greatest teams to ever play in the NBA. Among their accomplishments:
- 84 total wins, tied for 3rd most ever with the 1996–97 Chicago Bulls, and trailing only the 2015–16 Warriors (88) and 1995–96 Bulls (87).
- The largest net rating in NBA history (essentially the average margin of victory).
- MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (regular season, Western Conference Playoffs, and NBA Finals).
- Three All-Stars (SGA, Jalen “J-Dub” Williams, Coach Mark Daigneault).
- Two players on All-NBA teams (SGA and J-Dub Williams).
- Two players on NBA All-Defensive teams (Lu Dort and J-Dub).
- NBA Executive of the Year Sam Presti.
- The Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
They did all of this despite a series of misfortunes. Big man Chet Holmgren, who began the season playing like a clear All-Star and potential Defensive Player of the Year candidate, broke his hip in a game early in the season and missed 39 games. He returned before the end of the season despite not being able to walk for two months. During the playoffs, J-Dub tore a ligament in the wrist of his shooting hand and had to relearn how to dribble and shoot without being able to flex his wrist—all while being the number two scoring option for a team trying to win playoff games.
Holmgren definitely looked slower and struggled offensively after his return, but when he anchored the defense, the team had a defensive rating that was off the charts. J-Dub scored 40 in Game 5 of the Finals that pushed the team to the cusp of the championship they eventually won. The handicaps only ended up making the playoff run more interesting.
That’s what makes the upcoming season scary for Thunder fans. There is nowhere to go but down. They have reached the pinnacle of the NBA, hosting a parade completed by Jaylin “J-Will” Williams declaring, “WE THE FUCKING CHAMPS!”
So, what would it take for Thunder fans not to be disappointed? Barring injuries to key personnel, equaling the 73 wins the 2015–16 Warriors accumulated during the regular season probably doesn’t do it. Failing to win back-to-back Larry O’Briens—a task not accomplished since the 2018 Warriors—certainly would cause consternation.
That’s a high bar—one almost impossible to clear. I think they will.
Keep in mind that despite the ferocity with which the Thunder wrecked the NBA last season, such as going 29–1 against the Eastern Conference and having an average margin of +12.8 points per game, they did so hampered.
The team began the season with only Chet Holmgren to play the center position. Before any true big man was cleared to return to play, Chet broke his hip and missed 39 games, unable to even walk for months. When he did return, he looked slower and less confident on offense.
During the playoffs, J-Dub tore a ligament in his dominant wrist and had to relearn how to shoot and dribble while still acting as the team’s secondary ball handler and number two option on offense.
Despite these handicaps, the Thunder were a few clutch shots from basically running the table during the postseason. While a lot is made of the team having to overcome a couple of seven-game series, Denver was two Aaron Gordon shots at the buzzer from being blown out in five games. Meanwhile, in the Finals, it was a miraculous comeback in Game 1 capped by Tyrese Haliburton’s late jumper that gave the Pacers any hope of hanging with OKC. If all three prayers had not been answered, they would have hoisted the trophy without ever being truly tested.
There are no excuses for the team not to continue this inexplicable upward trend. The second-youngest team to ever win a championship has remarkable consistency. Only Dillon Jones, a little-used substitute, left the team in the offseason, being traded to make room for 2025 lottery pick Thomas Sorber. Their 2024 lottery pick, Nikola Topić, is expected to finally make his NBA debut to add even more talent to the rotation.
Stars like Holmgren and J-Dub are still years from reaching their peak physical ability, while rotation players like Cason Wallace, Ajay Mitchell, and Aaron Wiggins are continuing to improve as they learn the NBA game. Even J-Will, an emergency big man, appeared to have added to his game during the preseason. On paper, this team should be even better.
And now they are battle-tested.
As they head into the 2025–2026 season, barring something catastrophic, the prognosis for them being the best team of all time is completely on the table. Fans will be disappointed if they aren’t.
