Thunder become 1st team to reach 60 wins in NBA this season

The Oklahoma City Thunder became the first NBA team to reach 60 wins this season with a 121-105 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points while Chet Holmgren added 18 points and 10 rebounds. Alex Caruso scored 15 points. The victory also marked Oklahoma City’s seventh straight win as they have the best record in the NBA.

“We play every night to get better, to become a better group ourselves,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the game, via ESPN. “And that’s the reason why we’ve clinched this early. That’s the reason why we’ve been the fastest team to 60 wins in franchise history.

“No matter what we’ve done in the past, what we’ve accomplished, if we focus on using the opportunity in front of us to get better, we have to look up at the end of a season and be better, and that’s all you can control.”

The Thunder’s young stars have broken out this season to help lead Oklahoma City to the top of the league. Gilgeous-Alexander leads the league with a 32.8 scoring average. Jalen Williams is averaging 21.3 points per game. Holmgren, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Hartenstein are each averaging at least 11 points per game.

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Oklahoma City won 60 games once during the Kevin Durant-Russell Westbrook years. Another victory will break the Thunder mark for most wins in a season. The Seattle SuperSonics won at least 60 games three times. The most wins was 64 during the 1995-96 season, which the team ended up losing in the NBA Finals to the Chicago Bulls.

The team will not have Michael Jordan to face should the players make it that far, but the Cleveland Cavaliers have been the Eastern Conference’s best team so far and are on the verge of winning 60 games themselves.