Still enjoying their NBA championship, the Oklahoma City Thunder will soon pivot their attention to the 2025-26 regular season. They had one of the greatest years ever with a historic 68-14 record and a Larry O’Brien trophy. Considering they’re running it back with mostly the same roster, what could an encore look like?

According to one NBA analyst, a second historic season that one-ups last year. It’s no secret that the Thunder are the consensus title favorite. From all of the previous handful of reigning champions, they’re best set up to join the rare club of back-to-back titles.

Advertisement

The Thunder quickly did their offseason homework by signing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren to contract extensions. That should keep their contention window open for the foreseeable future. And considering they’re the second-youngest NBA champion in league history, the rest of the roster has plenty of room to grow.

All that considered, Zach Lowe said he recently entertained the idea that the Thunder could break the rare 70-win mark. Only the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls and 2015-16 Golden State Warriors have reached that mark in league history. He talked about the possibility on his latest podcast episode.

“The MVP plays in Oklahoma City for a team that’s so deep, so young, still on the come up in a lot of ways,” Lowe said. “So g–d— good and ferocious that I actually spent 45 minutes earlier this week trying to figure out if they can win 70 games. If they can win 73 games.”

The NBA was especially top-heavy last season with three 60-plus win teams. The Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers went back and forth for the league’s best record before the former finally ran away with it in the final month of the regular season. They finished with a franchise-best 68 wins despite juggling injuries all year.

Advertisement

“I looked back at the Warriors season and the Bulls season of 73, 72 wins respectively,” Lowe said. “Conference strength and is the West just too good for a team to win that many? This team won 68 games last year with Chet and Hartenstein missing half the season. That’s how good they are.”

Ultimately, Lowe said he doesn’t think the Thunder would reach 70 wins this upcoming season. But the fact that he needed nearly an hour to decide that and clearly buried himself in research by looking at what the two 70-win teams in NBA history did shows how much confidence he has in OKC.

“I don’t think so because the West is too good. Once you win a title, it’s natural to play the long game,” Lowe said. “They actually strike me as a team that’s out for blood every single night in a way that actually makes that discussion at least worth the 45 minutes I put into it.”

Lowe is probably right. And his reasoning for it segues to one of the more interesting storylines for the Thunder. How will they treat the regular season? Once you win an NBA championship, everything feels smaller in comparison. It’ll be interesting to see how they treat the day-to-day now that they know they can win a title with this group.

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Could the OKC Thunder reach 70 wins in 2025-26 regular season?