OKC Thunder Off to Best Start in Franchise History, Despite Adversity

The Oklahoma City Thunder are off to a fantastic start this season, an unblemished 8-0 record, despite battling a ton of adversity.

Nov 4, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) dribbles the ball against the LA Clippers in the second half at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

What an encore these first eight games have been for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Bricktown Ballers waltzed their way to the best record in the NBA last season with a franchise-best 68 wins, the best point differential in NBA history and bagging their first championship in franchise history.

To start this campaign, the OKC Thunder are 8-0, their best start in team history - topping last year's 7-0 mark - doing it through no shortage of adversity.

All-NBA swingman and No. 2 scoring option Jalen Williams has yet to debut this season as he rehabs from offseason wrist surgery to repair torn ligaments in his wrist that he played through in last summer's postseason. Veteran big man Kenrich Williams and Rookie guard Nikola Topic have also missed the Thunder's first eight games. Before the season even began, first-round pick Thomas Sorber was ruled out for the 2025-26 campaign with a torn ACL.

To make matters worse, defensive ace Alex Caruso missed three games, Rising star Chet Holmgren has missed the same amount, Isaiah Joe didn't debut until Oct. 30 and even Cason Wallace and Lu Dort have each missed a contest.

Despite an Injury Report that resembles a CVS receipt in length, the Oklahoma City Thunder have just kept winning. While they had to grind out a pair of double overtime games to start this season, heading into their ninth game of the year the Thunder own the best defensive in the League (104.8 point differential) and top net rating in the NBA (13.7). Not to mention an offense that despite the massive pieces being absent is still the No. 4 unit in the association with a 118.5 offensive rating.

Oklahoma City has proved that they are the deepest and most talented team in the NBA, a claim that was made all summer long as this team retained 99% of last year's championship squad.

Superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues to dominate the league, bagging a player of the week award already, with three games featuring him scoring 30 points in just three quarters of action. The reigning MVP is averaging 33.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 2.4 stocks (steals plus blocks) per game while shooting 53% from the floor, 32% from deep and 89% from the free throw line.

Gilgeous-Alexander has taken a step forward as a playmaker while already dropping 55 points this season in a single game. This on top of the production OKC has seen from key bench pieces such as Ajay Mitchell, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe in his return.