The Oklahoma City Thunder seem to be feeling unstoppable right now, and it’s not hard to see why.
Through 22 games in the 2025-26 NBA season, the reigning champions have lost just once — and that loss was a two-point defeat in the second leg of a back-to-back set on the road. And since that loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company have won 13 consecutive games.
Again, who’s going to stop them?
Maybe the Dallas Mavericks?
On paper, the Mavs, who will visit OKC this Saturday, are clearly not on par with Oklahoma City, as Dallas only has an 8-15 record and is outside of both the NBA Playoff and NBA Play-in Tournament pictures.
But the Mavericks are also on a roll, having won all of their last three assignments, including a 131-121 statement victory in Mile High City against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets last Monday, followed by a 118-108 home win over the Miami Heat.
Also, the Thunder are not at their full strength at the moment, as the team is nursing some injuries. Alex Caruso, Lu Dort and Isaiah Hartenstein are all going to miss the meeting with the Mavericks, per the NBA’s official injury report for Friday’s games.
This will be the fourth game missed by Caruso because of a quad contusion and the third in a row for Dort, who is dealing with a strained right adductor. For Hartenstein, this will be his fourth straight due to right soleus strain.
The good news for OKC, which is coming off a 124-112 win against the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco on Tuesday, is that the likes of Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams are all active, as the Thunder look to string their 14th consecutive victory and keep the discussion about potentially breaking the Dubs’ single-season record of 73 wins.