Could OKC Thunder Hit 70 Wins?

The Oklahoma City Thunder are attempting to defend their title. They are attempting to buck the current trend of parity that has ravaged the NBA for the first time in league history. The past six champions have failed to make it out of the second round in the following season. The last repeat winner dates all the way back to the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors.

A year ago, the Thunder posted a historic season. Not only did Oklahoma City capture their first championship in club history, but they cracked 68 wins - the most in franchise history - had the best point differential in NBA history, the best cross conference record in league history and saw superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put together one of the NBA's best single seasons.

Gilgeous-Alexander was able to lead the league in scoring, win the NBA MVP, Western Conference Finals MVP and NBA Finals MVP. Along with the depth of the Thunder's roster and budding young stars such as Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, it truly feels as though the sky is the limit for Oklahoma City.

If anyone can end the parity era in the NBA, it is this version of the Thunder, who retain 99% of their championship roster from a year ago, the lone departure being Dillon Jones with his standard contract slot taken up by Thomas Sorber who is out for the year with a torn ACL.

This has led to NBA preview month being full of takes around the Bricktown ballers and what to expect from them this season. On Wednesday's edition of ESPN's NBA Today, panelist Bobby Marks went bold with his prediction for the Thunder.

"They're not going to hit 60, they're going to hit 70," Marks boldly proclaims. "I am going to put them right on the spot right now. I just think even if there are games where Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Chet Holmgren take the night off, this team has enough depth to get to 70 wins in the Western Conference."

70 wins is a lofty goal. Though, Marks is right about this team's depth. A lot has been made about the shortened summer the champions have been forced to endure, not ending their season until the last week of June, but they have the quality of depth to navigate an 82 game season without putting too much stress on their top-end players.

However, to expect a historic 70 win campaign out of this bunch doesn't do justice how hard it was for the team to reach their franchise best mark a year ago.

On the flip side, to Marks' point, the Thunder collected those 68 wins through plenty of adversity. Oklahoma City missed Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, Alex Caruso, Jaylin Williams and others for significant chunks of the season a year ago.

With a better stroke of luck in the injury department it isn't unrealistic to project Oklahoma City to reach such a lofty total. While this scribe would be more conservative than tabbing the Bricktown ballers for 70 wins, you don't have to squint as hard as Mark Daigneault when looking up at the scoreboard to see this prediction panning out.