The NBA record for wins in a regular season was set by the Golden State Warriors. In 2015-16, the team defeated their opponents 73 times in the regular season. Of course, they'd go on to lose an iconic NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers, so some say it was all for nothing. Winning that many games is nothing to scoff at, though, and many fans think that record will never be surpassed. The Oklahoma City Thunder have a chance to do the unthinkable and break the wins record this season, though. The defending champions are already 11-1. They are currently on pace to win around 75 games, but do they actually have the firepower to best the 2015-16 Warriors?
A look at the Warriors' 73-win season
The Warriors didn't have Kevin Durant yet when they won 73 games in 2015-16. They were already in the midst of revolutionizing the sport of basketball, though. Steph Curry won his second MVP this year, this time by unanimous decision. That is a feat that has never happened before or since in NBA history. The best shooter ever hit a record 402 3-pointers.
Curry's partners in crime were Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Thompson, a fellow elite shooter, hit a playoff record 11 3-pointers in a game. Green established himself as one of the greatest defensive players ever, but he got in on the 3-point barrage as well with an NBA Finals Game 7 record of six 3-point makes.
Before this team, the deep ball wasn't nearly as big a part of the NBA game. Now it reigns supreme as the most important facet of basketball. The Warriors won a record 24 games to start the season, and their 54-game home winning streak extended into the prior season.
Harrison Barnes, Shaun Livingston, Andrew Bogut, and Andre Iguodala were the role players who tied it all together, the latter of whom won the NBA Finals MVP the year prior and finished second in Sixth Man of the Year voting this year. The Warriors should have capped the magnificent season off with a championship, but they gave up a 3-1 lead to LeBron James and company. The Cavaliers' NBA Finals victory proved that the Warriors were, in fact, beatable, but only barely.
The 2025-26 Thunder look unbeatable
Surpassing the Warriors' win total of 73 games won't be easy, but the Thunder are on pace to do so. En route to winning the championship last season, the Thunder outscored opponents by a record 12.9 points per game. Oklahoma City's 68 regular season wins were the fourth most ever.
The team might be even better now. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is again playing like an MVP candidate, and it looks like Chet Holmgren could join him in the All-Star Game this year. Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, and Alex Caruso don't have to put up high scoring totals, but they know their roles and play them well. Their roles are, of course, to be some of the best point-of-attack defenders in the NBA.
Isaiah Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams are solid big men, and Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe can score off the bench. Even Ajay Mitchell has burst onto the scene out of nowhere this year. The UC Santa Barbara product averaged just 6.5 points per game as a rookie last year. He saw playing time here and there, but for the most part, he wasn't a part of Mark Daigneault's rotation. Now, Mitchell is third on the team in scoring with 17.2 points per game.
Mitchell is the latest success story of the Thunder's player development. They have had and will continue having a surplus of draft picks, and they are able to diagnose talent that fits perfectly on the roster. So far, the team's 108.3 points per game are the most in the NBA, and their defensive rating of 105.4 also ranks number one.
They should only continue getting better, too, as Jalen Williams hasn't even returned to the fold from a wrist injury. First-rounder Thomas Sorber is out for the year, but last year's first-round pick, Nikola Topic, does have a chance to return from testicular cancer at some point this year.
When the Thunder get all of their reinforcements back, it is going to be hard to beat them. Their depth is unmatched, so they can survive injuries, back-to-backs, and road trips better than most other teams. They play an unselfish brand of basketball in which anybody can go off on any given night and in which everybody plays lockdown defense. Gilgeous-Alexander can always bail them out when need be, too.
A lot of teams go through slow stretches in the year after a championship victory. Call it a championship drought or just consider the fact that teams that make deep playoff runs have shorter offseasons to get right. None of this seems to matter for the Thunder, though. They are simply a dominant team, and they should continue being so for years to come. This year, in particular, a 74-plus-win season shouldn't be ruled out.
