THUNDER MIGHT JUST STRIKE TWICE

In this series, The Straits Times highlights the players or teams to watch in the world of sport. Today, we focus on NBA champions the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have started the 2025-26 season on a 5-0 run.

- Dilenjit Singh

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (right) embracing teammate Aaron Wiggins during their 107-101 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Oct 28. Gilgeous-Alexander, averaging 34.8 points through a 5-0 start, is leading the Thunder's championship push with MVP-calibre form. PHOTO: REUTERS

(REUTERS)

Despite no team winning back-to-back titles since the Golden State Warriors in 2018, an overwhelming 80 per cent of National Basketball Association (NBA) general managers plumped for the Oklahoma City Thunder to retain their crown this 2025-26 season.

With a 5-0 start to the season following a 107-101 win over the Sacramento Kings on Oct 28, Mark Daigneault’s men are offering early signs that the faith is not misplaced.

The annual anonymous NBA general manager survey's recent record is shaky; since the Warriors' 2018 title, executives have only picked the eventual winner correctly once.

However, from 2008 to 2018, they chose the winner seven out of 10 times.

If you do not trust the general managers, how about the ex-players who run the rule over the league from the Inside The NBA studios?

Ahead of Oklahoma City’s road win over the Indiana Pacers on Oct 23, 1993 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) and two-time Olympic gold medallist Charles Barkley said of the Thunder: “They’re the deepest team in the NBA. They’re two-deep, they’re pretty much three-deep in their positions. They got it all, so they are heavy favourites...

“They just plug and play, because as long as they got Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) and Chet (Holmgren), they got to be.”

Two-time former NBA champion Kenny Smith agreed, adding: “They would be a top-eight team in the West without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, that’s how strong this team is.”

Canadian guard Gilgeous-Alexander is the reigning league and Finals MVP as well as its scoring champion and has begun the season in a similar vein.