Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t mince words when asked if the Oklahoma City Thunder are chasing the NBA’s single-season wins record of 73, set by the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors.
“Absolutely. Winning matters,” the All-Star guard declared during a press conference ahead of the NBA Cup semifinals. “And no matter what form it looks like to me. So absolutely.”
The Thunder, boasting a blistering 24-1 record, have matched the Warriors’ best 25-game start in league history. Their 16-game winning streak puts them on pace to eclipse the mark, and Gilgeous-Alexander wants to win every night.
“We are trying to be a better version of ourselves every night we go out there, and we like to hunt in that form,” he said, via ESPN. “If we didn’t get better tonight, then we wasted an opportunity. That’s kind of how we see it.”
Forward Harrison Barnes, a veteran of that Warriors squad, cautioned about the toll of such pursuits.
“It’s tiring. It’s tiring,” Barnes told ESPN. “Obviously, you deal with all types of narratives going into the season and things like that. But everything’s different. It was a lot.”
Oklahoma City faces the San Antonio Spurs Saturday, a matchup that counts toward regular-season standings. Teammate Jalen Williams echoed the mindset.
“If we are going to apply ourselves to anything, let’s do it to the best of your ability and try to win. That’s just our nature. That’s just how we play basketball,” he said.
With the NBA Cup on the line — one of the few blemishes last season — the Thunder are hunting history, one dominant performance at a time.
