Fans of the Portland Trail Blazers preached patience as the team finally embraced the need to rebuild by trading away Damian Lillard for a plethora of assets. There was optimism anyway surrounding the franchise, as they recently drafted Scoot Henderson, adding him to a core with Anfernee Simons, Jerami Grant, and Deandre Ayton. But on Thursday night, there was no reason for the Blazers faithful to be optimistic after their team suffered a 139-77 defeat at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

No one on the team could buy a bucket; the Blazers, as a whole, shot 27.7 percent from the field. That alone would lead one to think that this is the worst performance in franchise history. I mean, what could top this “perfect storm” of crap that the Blazers endured against the Thunder? But the truth is, another version of the Blazers suffered an even worse defeat, which is simply preposterous to think of.

As ESPN pointed out, the Blazers' margin of defeat on Thursday night against the Thunder of 62 is only the second-worst in franchise history. The distinction of having the worst loss in the team's many years of existence belongs to the 1997-98 squad, a team that had the ignominy to lose by 65 points, 124-59, to the Indiana Pacers on February 27, 1998.

In fact, one could make a very strong argument that the 1998 Blazers' 65-point defeat is in an entirely different stratosphere from the shellacking the 2024 team received from the Thunder. After all, that Blazers team went 46-36 and finished as the sixth-seed in the Western Conference. They were a playoff team, and yet there they were, getting their backsides handed to them by a 58-win Pacers team.

The talent disparity between the 1998 Blazers and Pacers is smaller than that of the current Blazers and Thunder; 25 years ago, the team had the likes of Rasheed Wallace, Arvydas Sabonis, and Damon Stoudamire leading the way. Having those three veterans on the team makes a 65-point loss that much more inexcusable.

The good thing is that after that 65-point defeat, the 1998 Blazers put up much more of a fight in the very next game, losing by just one point. Can Scoot Henderson and company do the same when they take on the Minnesota Timberwolves later tonight?