With every passing day, this OKC Thunder team finds itself being thrown into the same conversation as some of the greatest ball clubs of all time, specifically the Stephen Curry-led Golden State Warriors of the mid-2010s.
From recently tying their best start to a season in league history over a 25-game stretch (24-1) to them currently being on pace to also join the 70-plus wins club, the 2025-26 Thunder seem to be well-positioned to enter into the same stratosphere as, and perhaps even surpass, the dynastic Dubs.
However, The Ringer’s Howard Beck doesn’t appear to be ready to give them the edge over that particular era of Golden State basketball, particularly that 2016-2019 squads spearheaded by Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson.
His reasoning: “The Thunder don’t feel overwhelming from a sheer talent perspective in the same way.”
Thunder not seen as ‘overwhelming’ like Durant, Curry, Klay Warriors
Beck would make sure to note that he’s not “downgrading their talent,” but, rather, is merely discussing how he believes the Warriors’ Big Three was far superior to the Thunder’s current core trio.
“Shai, young Jalen, who’s still on the way up, and Chet, who’s still on the way up. That three, when they’re all at their peak at the same time, then we can talk about them next to Steph and KD next to each other at their peak. Those two are top-10 players of all time. Those are two guys who are both MVPs on their own and then joined forces. The Thunder are younger in this cycle,” Beck said.
Now, to be fair to Beck, there is a strong case to be made that this Warriors core was more top-heavy than this Thunder club. In fact, it seems only logical to say so, considering, as he mentioned, they had both Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant in their primes running the show.
However, what should irk OKC fans — and, frankly, anyone who has watched them play over these past two seasons — is when he continued on to say that this particular Warriors team “felt like there was nothing you were going to be able to do with them,” and that the Thunder only have that sense “a little bit.”
How on earth, then, does one explain the fact that they not only set the record for highest point differential in a single season last year at +12.9, but are currently on pace to surpass that with a current mark of +17.5?
On top of this, how would someone explain how the Thunder’s net rating of 17.2 is on track to blow by the marks set by the Warriors during all three seasons they were together?
Not to mention, they’re doing all of this while eclipsing them in the points per game department (123.6), having Gilgeous-Alexander sitting out 13 fourth quarters so far (just six shy of Curry’s 19 sat out during their 73-win season in 2015-16), and while running regular rotations in the 10-to-13 man range, seven of whome are averaging north of 12.0 points per game.
The Warriors, meanwhile, only ever saw as high as four during the 2018-19 season.
Yes, those Curry, Durant, and Thompson Golden State teams were certainly a handful and, in some ways, have even been argued as the greatest assortment of talent ever assembled at the NBA-level.
However, considering their star power, insane depth that allows them to plug-and-play without skipping a beat, established championship pedigree, and current historic pace in a number of categories, the argument laid out by Beck saying that the Thunder don’t overwhelm the opposition as much as the Warriors did is borderline laughable.
Simply put, the proof for why is both found in the eye test and the advanced metrics.