.jpg)
1 hour ago
2
On June 22, the Thunder won their first championship since relocating to Oklahoma City from Seattle in 2008. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA MVP, played a vital role in securing the franchise's first title since 1979, after a historic regular season saw OKC win a franchise-record 68 games and set a new league record for average margin of victory.
This year, the Thunder might be even better -- and that is a huge problem for the rest of the NBA.
The Thunder have started 2025/26 on a tear. All-Star guard Jalen Williams (wrist surgery) has not even played yet, but Oklahoma City is 12-1 while boasting an average victory margin of 15.5 points per game -- thanks in part to the league's #1 defense.
The Thunder are on pace to shatter the Golden State Warriors' record of 73 wins in a season. They could very well become the NBA's first repeat champion this decade. And Oklahoma City could win the first overall pick in the talent-laden 2026 NBA Draft.
The Clippers' loss and the Thunder's gain
Oklahoma City's choice to trade Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2019 is the gift that keeps on giving for the Thunder franchise. George is long gone, now contracted to the Philadelphia 76ers but unable to play through injury, and the Clippers are off to a 3-8 start this season -- their championship window with George and Kawhi Leonard (out with a foot injury) now closed.
But how can the Thunder claim the top pick in next year's draft when the George trade took place more than six years ago? Because the Clippers included an unprotected 2026 first-round selection in the deal -- a trade that already helped the Thunder land Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams (who was taken 12th overall in 2022, with a pick that once belonged to Los Angeles).
A hypothetical scenario for OKC that broke my brain today for @BleacherReport pic.twitter.com/0iYqchfbXs
— Esfandiar Baraheni (@JustEsBaraheni) November 13, 2025It doesn't take very many spins on Tankathon to discover that, if the Clippers bottom out, the Thunder will enter next year's lottery with great odds to take an elite prospect -- such as Duke's Cameron Boozer, BYU's AJ Dybantsa or Kansas' Darryn Peterson.
To reach: the Thunder could break the NBA's wins record and win successive championships before picking first overall in the 2026 draft thanks to a trade that Sam Presti made six years ago. That unique confluence of events could make it difficult for other contenders to break through in the years to come.
English (US)