OKC Thunder Tie Best Start in Franchise History Through Adversity

The Oklahoma City Thunder kept the New Orleans Pelicans win-less on Sunday afternoon to get off to their best start in franchise history. The Thunder have tied last year's 7-0 output through plenty of adversity.

Oct 30, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) passes against the Washington Wizards during the second half at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The more things change, the more they stay the same. In the midst of a parity era in the NBA with the past six champions failing to make it out of the second round, no repeat winner since 2018 and seven straight unique champions, the Thunder have once again gotten off to a fantastic start in the 2025-26 campaign after hoisting their first Larry O'Brien trophy in June.

Oklahoma City has remained a popular pick to win the championship this season, in part due to this team's continuity with the roster retaining 99% of last year's title team. However, their red-hot start to this season in the win column has featured plenty of adversity along the way.

The Thunder are extremely short-handed. Having yet to see All-NBA forward Jalen Williams make his debut this season, as he recovers from offseason wrist surgery to repair torn ligaments that he suffered at the end of this past regular season. Over the three games, rising star Chet Holmgren has been in street clothes for all of them. Defense ace Alex Caruso has missed three games in his own right, with Cason Wallace and Lu Dort also missing one of the Thunder's first seven. This, in addition to the role players Kenrich Williams and Nikola Topic missing all seven games, has left Oklahoma City needing to patch work both their rotation and starting lineups along the way.

On Sunday against the winless New Orleans Pelicans, in a strange afternoon tip, the Oklahoma City Thunder kept the losing team losing and remained unbeaten.

The Pelicans were dead on arrival, and the Thunder took advantage, racing out to a 75-52 lead at intermission and never looking back.

Oklahoma City got what they wanted offensively and even saw their 3-point luck turnaround. Entering this contest as the worst 3-point shooting team in the association, they stroked the trey ball at a 41% clip on Sunday afternoon, knocking in 20 triples.

Defensively, the Woeful Bourbon Street Ballers would've been better off taking 24-second violations each time down. Between their poor shot selection, turnovers, and lack of spacing, it was messy at best for New Orleans.

This gave the Thunder an unblemished 7-0 start, tying their best record through seven games in franchise history with last year's club, which didn't suffer their first loss since Game 8 against the Denver Nuggets, who pulled out a two-point win.

A year ago, the Bricktown Ballers were missing Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams and Kenrich Williams for the first seven games before seeing Holmgren fracture his hip in Game 10.

Somehow, the Thunder are missing even more key pieces to start this campaign, but they just keep winning. Oklahoma City has a shot on Tuesday, inside the Intuit Dome against the Clippers, to set a new record if OKC can improve to 8-0.

Stay tuned to Thunder on SI for complete coverage of this Oklahoma City Thunder season all year long.