Thunder join Warriors, Bulls and Lakers on list of best starts by defending champs - ESPN

Sometimes, a defending champion picks up right where it left off when the following season starts up. Case in point: the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Thunder are rolling to start the 2025-26 season. Oklahoma City currently boasts the best record in the NBA at 11-1 with an average point differential of plus-14.4. It strung together eight straight wins to start the season, tied for the sixth-longest win streak by a defending champion to begin a season in NBA history and longest since the Golden State Warriors in 2015-16.

The hot start from the Thunder comes on the heels of a 68-win season and an NBA title. Oklahoma City will look to continue its strong run against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night (9:30 ET, ESPN), further establishing its place on a list of the best starts to a season by a defending champion.

Here's a look back at the best 12-game starts by a defending NBA champion since 1970, and how those teams fared in the postseason.

12-game record: 12-0

Postseason result: NBA Finals loss to Cleveland Cavaliers

There's fast starts to an NBA season, and then there's what the Warriors did during the 2015-16 campaign.

Golden State ran the table with an NBA record 24 straight wins to start the season. The Warriors went 73-9 for the season, also the best in league history, and had a plus-10.8 point differential. Warriors guard Stephen Curry became the first player in NBA history to become a unanimous MVP winner — he averaged 30.1 points, 6.7 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals while netting a whopping 402 3-pointers.

The Warriors won each of the first two rounds of the playoffs in five games, then came back from 3-1 down against the Thunder to win the Western Conference finals, setting up a rematch with the