Though the Oklahoma City Thunder has yet to win the Larry O’Brien trophy since it was established in 2008, it still remains one of the NBA’s most consistent franchises over the last decade-plus.
The Thunder picked up its 50th win of the 2024-25 regular season in a 138-127 victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday, making it the only team in the Western Conference to hit the 40 and 50-win mark thus far.
Expanding this feat behind just this year, Oklahoma City leads the NBA with nine 50-win seasons since 2009-10. The Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, L.A. Clippers and San Antonio Spurs each hold eight — three of which have won the NBA Finals during that span.
The playoffs have featured the Thunder for 11 seasons — soon to be 12 — and its made a total of four Western Conference finals appearances. It won just one of those, before it lost to the Miami Heat in the 2012 NBA Finals.
Oklahoma City does have a formidable chance to accomplish this for the first time in 2025, but for now, it can’t stake the claim that several other franchises have gotten to make. Still, it doesn’t take away from its longevity of contending for the playoffs and strength of talent.
Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Paul George, Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have all been a part of the Thunder for various amounts of times — a group that few other teams can stack up against, not to mention the several other talented players its seen. To have all of those names, proves the franchise has been doing something right.
Some teams have gone through endless years of rebuilding during the 2010s and beyond, but when Oklahoma City was forced to do that, it quickly brought itself back to contention with smart draft picks and trades. It has kept a determination to win games, no matter how drastic of moves it had to make.
To be one of the most consistent teams, doesn’t mean the Thunder has to have won a championship. However, with the trajectory it is currently on, things could certainly change in a few months.
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