All of the talk is about 73 wins. But in order for the Oklahoma City Thunder to break that legendary record, they likely need to grab another on the way — 33.
That’s how many games in a row the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers won. As you can imagine, that’s the longest win streak in NBA history. We’re a Isaiah Joe smaller shoe size away from that being a louder talking point as the Thunder sit at 24-1.
But for now, the Thunder have a 16-game win streak. That’s an OKC record. They beat last year’s 15 in a row as they went a historic 68-14 en route to an NBA championship.
In Las Vegas for a second December, the Thunder hope to cross off another bucket list item — an NBA Cup. They finished just shy of that feat last year when they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2024 NBA Cup finals. Down to four teams, they will face the San Antonio Spurs in the semifinals.
As Shai Gilgeous-Alexander prepares for that, he was asked about that secondary NBA record. Funny enough, he had zero clue about it. To the point that he had to ask the reporter for the fact.
“Wow, that’s a lot more games to win. Yeah, we are so far from that — it’s like you said, I didn’t even know, so that hasn’t even come close to creeping in my mind,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But hopefully we get there. That’s the goal.”
Quite the NBA Cup Media Day. For the first time, Gilgeous-Alexander explicitly acknowledged the dragons the Thunder are chasing. It’s one thing for the outside world to talk about it. But it’s another level for the reigning MVP to do so.
We’ll see if they can get to that point. Under this hypothetical, the Thunder can tie the Lakers when they visit the Houston Rockets on Thursday, Jan. 15. They can break the record at the Miami Heat on Saturday, Jan. 17.
Funny enough, the 2025 NBA Cup championship wouldn’t count towards the record. As the Thunder learned that season, their loss to the Bucks was invisible in the record books. That’s how they set an NBA record with a 29-1 record against the East last year.