OKLAHOMA CITY — Amid its longest winning streak in franchise history, the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Phoenix Suns 138-89 in the NBA Cup quarterfinal and are headed to Las Vegas to face either the Los Angeles Lakers or the San Antonio Spurs. The Thunder's 24-1 start ties the Golden State Warriors for the best start through 25 games in NBA history.
Then, a stunningly revealing stat that encapsulates the Thunder's dominance put things into perspective, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps.
“The Oklahoma City Thunder have led by at least 20 points for 264 minutes and 17 seconds this season. They have trailed for 249 minutes and 53 seconds. Not bad,” Bontemps said, per ESPN's Matt Williams.
25 games into the 2025-26 campaign and the Thunder has spent more time leading an opponent by 20+ points than time spent trailing at all throughout. Head coach Mark Daigneault and his starters watched the Thunder's 38-point lead (100-72) balloon to a 53-point advantage in the final frame.
Oklahoma City outscored Phoenix 64-41 in the second half. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 28 points in 27 minutes led six Thunder players in double figures, including Chet Holmgren (24 points), and Jalen Williams (15 points). The trio extended the Thunder's 24-1 start.
Thunder make history after NBA Cup blowout win
The absurd stats encenuating the Thunder's dominance this season continue as its winning streak, which reached a franchise-record 16 on Wednesday. The Thunder improved to 24-1 on the season and with a historic +17.4 point differential, hasn't shown any signs of slowing down.
In fact, here's another eye-opening stat as further proof of the significant gap the defending champion Thunder has built between itself and the rest of the NBA, per Keerthinka Uthayakumar's X, formerly Twitter.
“OKC has outscored opponents by 437 points this season, the largest differential through the first 25 games of a season in NBA history,” Uthayakumar reported. “90 points higher than the team with the second-best differential, the 2007-08 Boston Celtics.”
The Thunder will face either the Lakers or Spurs in the NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas on Saturday.
