2025-26 Thunder 13.1, **6.2** above Celtics **(TBD)**

1995-96 Bulls 13.5, **5.3** above Sonics **(Champions)**

2023-24 Celtics 11.7, **4.4** above Thunder **(Champions)**

2016-17 Warriors 11.7, **4.1** above Spurs **(Champions)**

1991-92 Bulls 11.0, **3.7** above Blazers **(Champions)**

2014-15 Warriors 10.3, **3.3** above Clippers **(Champions)**

2024-25 Thunder 12.7, **3.2** over Cavaliers **(Champions)**

2007-08 Celtics, 11.4, **2.9** over Pistons **(Champions)**

2000-01 Spurs 8.7, **2.6** over Kings **(Lost 0-4 to eventual champion Lakers in conference finals)**

1996-97 Bulls, 11.9, **2.3** over Jazz **(Champions)**

Side Note: 2015-16 Spurs at 11.5 & Warriors at 10.9 finished **4.0** and **3.4** over the 3rd place OKC Thunder respectively.

All stats from bball-reference

TuqiDuque12 | Pistons

43 | 6 hours ago

Their defense gives them such a high floor and they have so many good defenders that even when they have injuries (and they have a lot now) it will always be good enough for them to get stops most nights.

Still don’t trust anyone on that roster besides Shai when it comes to offense (especially because while he’s a great coach, I kinda fear that Daignault will trust the Dort/Cason/Caruso trident over Ajay Mitchell when it matters), but that formula of insane defense + Shai has worked already last year

Longjumping_One_9164 | Thunder

23 | 6 hours ago

Very astute overview of the team, AJ has been a revelation this year as a two way presence.

Chet has also been very good in these last run of games offensively and defensively.

But the regression in shooting of Dort, Wallace and Caruso for in season numbers is definitely concerning for later rounds of Playoffs.

TuqiDuque12 | Pistons

5 | 6 hours ago

I think I make a mistake by putting the 3 together.

Caruso will make or miss shots, but I at least trust him to finish/screen/make good decisions, my problem with Cason/Dort is that they can’t really give you anything if the shots aren’t falling, and since Jdub isn’t really taking 3’s anymore apparently, having guys you can actually trust to make decision in tight spaces becomes even more important.

Like I’m really close to saying Kenrich should actually be prioritized compared to those 2

Longjumping_One_9164 | Thunder

2 | 5 hours ago

Its a combination of total team shooting thats been the biggest issue.

JDub not shooting, Caruso cold patch, Dort very cold patch, Cason regression and Wiggins being hurt. All of those combined have hurt us in various games.

I do think what is ultimately count though is SGA is better, Chet has a faster release abd AJ is a very solid shooter (off dribble and C&S).

And yes Krich is a baller, its very weird how he’ll just not get played for stretches of games or Playoffs. I think he will force himself into the rotation this year. He’s been really good recently.

2fly5 | Thunder

1 | 3 hours ago

Another factor is this year Wiggins has been an improved defender, so he should be able to be out there more in the playoffs too, and he obviously offers more on offense

Longjumping_One_9164 | Thunder

1 | 3 hours ago

I agree, he has made a pretty substantial leap defensively, just has better positioning and timing. I agree completely that is going to make a big difference to our offensive ceiling.

SGA, AJ and Wiggins are the guys I trust for self creation at three levels. Unfortunately jDubs wrist issue has just completely tanked his 3P shooting.

We have just been so dawned hurt this year, been impossible to get any continuity whatsoever and honestly think that’s been an issue through Dec and Jan (people missing games notwithstanding).

SloppyNachoLibre | Thunder

1 | 5 hours ago

With the way Kenrich has been playing lately (and while IHart is hurt), I’ve wondered about starting him at PF. Could be interesting

TuqiDuque12 | Pistons

2 | 4 hours ago

He’d help the rebounding for sure next to Chet, but I guess right now with no other ball handler besides Shai they actually kinda need him with the bench units (not sure he can really play enough minutes to start AND stagger with the second unit)

lethalizered | Thunder

1 | 4 hours ago

This is great observation, and also my concern about the Pistons come playoff time so I guess you’re kinda speak from experience here.

The one small silver lining for OKC is that these guys are streaky shooting the ball. We have seen this same roster shoot 40+ percent from three last season after the All Star break.

But I do agree that roster lacks on “dependable” shooters overall. You basically rely on one of these guys having a hot night every game come playoff time.

TuqiDuque12 | Pistons

2 | 4 hours ago

Oh we’re definitely like a poor’s man version of yall from that standpoint (great defense, great the possession game, deep with decent rotation players but not enough shot creation).

In theory you have enough bites at the apple to hope that 2 of the role players can have good series, but I sometimes fear that Daignault will just default to Dort and Cason even if they are cold

lethalizered | Thunder

1 | 4 hours ago

Yeah I agree. Coach D was very much a coward last season because he wanted to control every possession and avoided playing our best shooter in Joe.

It worked, last year. Not sure it’s gonna work again this year.

It’s also hilarious to me that a team like us can’t cover one single bad defende(Joe). We can do it I’m sure. But hey, we’ll see how Mark feels come playoff time.

Strange1130 | Thunder

9 | 5 hours ago

Still don’t trust anyone on that roster besides Shai when it comes to offense

It took like a year and half but people are finally starting to learn this lol

The “Shai is playing with a super team so he shouldn’t be MVP” narrative last year was funny

Chet has been great on offense lately tbf (though a lot of that is from set up from Shai)

TuqiDuque12 | Pistons

3 | 5 hours ago

It’s weird in a way it’s hard to evaluate this roster because this is the teams that may have the most “5th starter/above average bench player” guys ever. So yeah Shai does have “a lot” of help in a sense because they can miss like 3 rotation players and be totally fine, and most of those guys can kill bad teams even without Shai with their defense

But they are very shallow in term of actual shot creation after Shai, Jdub and Chet are below average at it for secondary options on contenders, and after that it’s Ajay (I really like him, I believe in him more then Daignault seem to e at times lol) and the Hartenstein handoff game (actually think they miss him on offense way more then on defense rn)

MddlingAges | Knicks

2 | 6 hours ago

Apparently the injury benefited them a minor amount, based on what else I read here.

It seems like a combination of more injuries this season to the good teams and OKC’s unusual depth.

lethalizered | Thunder

2 | 4 hours ago

The injuries don’t usually hurt us because we’re a deep as hell team. It does hurt when a combination of injuries hit, such as Jalen+Ajay+Wiggins. Those three are players that apply rim pressure. When they are all gone, the offense basically comes down to “Hey Shai, you’re the MVP, what can you do?” which can work at times, but it’s not a reliable formula to win a lot of games consistently.

Kaladin_Depressed | Thunder

48 | 6 hours ago

I’d definitely like to revisit this once the playoffs begin. I suspect we’ll drop some after we play the more challenging back half of our schedule.

LemonButterRum

-3 | 6 hours ago

ya, the trend is already starting. The Hornets are beating OKC in +- in January, albeit by not much. The disparity has come down quite a bit: https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/traditional?Month=4&dir=A&sort=PLUS_MINUS

Strange1130 | Thunder

10 | 5 hours ago

That’s because you’re using a small sample size and the Hornets beat the Jazz by 55. Cody Williams and Taylor Hendricks, both essentially not NBA players played 60 minutes that game, it was just a pure unabashed tank job. That would skew any data for such a small sample size.

Remove that game and it drops to 6.1 which is still good. (Meanwhile OKC won in 2OT, and lost, to the two tanking teams we played in Jan lol 🤦‍♂️)

LemonButterRum

-5 | 4 hours ago

28% of all played games isn’t a small sample size, but sure, whatever helps you cope. if you leave out the Hornets here (damn, you really went in on them LOL), OKC is down considerably

Zeeron1 | Thunder

1 | 3 hours ago

28% of a medium sample size is indeed a small sample size

CandidFly7293 | Timberwolves

-6 | 4 hours ago

Small sample size is the reason this post was made, nephew.

Zeeron1 | Thunder

7 | 3 hours ago

I’m trying to figure out what he said that was so triggering for you that youre online calling people nephews lol

CandidFly7293 | Timberwolves

-5 | 2 hours ago

Is it a forbidden word, lil gup?

Effective-Composer94

3 | an hour ago

White people trash talk is so unthreatening bro 😭

RiloAlDente | Spurs

1 | an hour ago

Lil gup 😭😭

Admirable_Let_2961

24 | 6 hours ago

It says more about the league that the Celtics are second best having had their roster decimated.

Terrible_Shelter_345

2 | 5 hours ago

The regular season is completely broken

Wynona_Judd | Pistons

7 | 6 hours ago

Might be splitting hairs here but BBref has the Pistons and Celtics tied for second best net rating at +6.9. Funny enough though the NBA app has Pistons solidly second with +7.0 and the Celtics with +6.6.

butt_fun | San Diego Clippers

4 | 5 hours ago

Bbref counts possessions differently than the official stats, for whatever reason

Actually-Yo-Momma

3 | 6 hours ago

All i gotta say is THIS is how thread titles should be made. No click bait, just pure hoop fan fun facts

TopCoeff

4 | 6 hours ago

The team with the best Net Rating has won the championship three seasons in a row. Quick look at the last three seasons:
2024-25: Thunder — +12.7 — Champions ✅
2023-24: Celtics — +11.7 — Champions ✅
2022-23: Nuggets — +6.8 — Champions ✅
I think OKC can keep the streak going.

DubDaDon1 | Nigeria

1 | 6 hours ago

Unfortunately I don’t know how to format the text to be bold, so hopefully the asterisks make it easier to read lol

beefJeRKy-LB | Lebanon

2 | 6 hours ago

technically double asterisk is supposed to bold the text but you escaped them with backslashes lol

LIKE THIS

yoyoman831 | San Diego Clippers

1 | 5 hours ago

Let me do a **TESTING**

Edit: **TESTING 2**

**TESTING 3**

__TESTING 4__

**TEST5**

CHEATING

FK THIS

Lopken

1 | 6 hours ago

71 Bucks had a +6 net rating lead and won the Cup

62 Celtics had a +4.9 and won.

IndependenceSouth877 | Bulls

1 | 5 hours ago

Is it the largest over 46 games stretch? Really weird stat

GayForJamie

1 | 4 hours ago

The really interesting thing is that the Celtics are #2 in net rating.

dragonwhale

1 | 4 hours ago

Dam Celtics at number 2? They got a good team. Make no mistake about that but Mazulla is genuinely a historically great coach. Been a fan since day 1 and i’m not even a Celtics fan.

[deleted]

-1 | 6 hours ago

[deleted]

asonkidd

2 | 6 hours ago

What are you talking about? 6.1 is the highest as it stands right now.

Several_Hour_347

1 | 6 hours ago

No?

SeismicRipFart | Trail Blazers

-11 | 5 hours ago

And yet no one fears them lol

HitboxOfASnail | Thunder

1 | 5 hours ago

why would that be important at all

SeismicRipFart | Trail Blazers

-6 | 5 hours ago

It’s massively important what are you talking about lol

HitboxOfASnail | Thunder

1 | 5 hours ago

it is not “massively important” that anyone is “afraid” of the thunder. Also, you aren’t even in a position to know how any team feels about their competition. you’re just a redditor lmao

The OKC Thunder’s current 13.1 Net Rating is 6.2 above the 2nd place Celtics, the largest gap in NBA History. Here’s the top 10 largest gaps since Net Rating tracking began: