The Thunder have become the 7th wire to wire 1 seed in post-merger NBA history
A wire-to-wire 1 seed is a team that has held (or tied) the best record in the conference every day of the season.
The previous 6 teams to do this were the
‘97 Bulls
‘01 Sixers
‘06 Pistons
‘08 Celtics
‘09 Lakers
‘16 Warriors
It is a silly, flukey record that essentially requires you start your season with a decent win streak. But, 5 of the previous six times this happened the team went to the Finals, and 3 won the championship.
Interestingly (?) 4 times the season following a wire to wire 1 seed the team lost their opening game.
The Thunder locking in the first seed also means they will inevitably break the ‘96-‘97 Bulls modern record of consecutive days in 1st place (311 in season days). The ‘25 Thunder took a share of 1st on Nov 23, 2024 and will be in first for 314 consecutive days.