The defending champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, are on the verge of completing a second sweep in the 2026 playoffs and have begun being in conversations for being a potential dynasty team as they surge ahead to potentially win back-to-back championships.
They are now up 3-0 in their Western semifinals series against the Los Angeles Lakers following a 131-108 win on the road at the Crypto.com Arena.
Even before this series began, the media had already asked JJ Redick about the Thunder’s inclusion in dynasty teams like the 2017-18 Warriors and the 1995-96 Bulls, and he gave a very numbers-backed answer for why he agrees that they belong in that discussion. But after last night’s loss, the media also asked LeBron James and Marcus Smart about these comparisons.
“They’re pretty damn good from top to bottom. They don’t let their foot off the gas,” said James as he nodded in agreement with JJ Redick’s comments.
The Thunder held James to 19 points, eight assists, and six rebounds today while shooting 7-19 from the floor (36.8 FG%) and 2-6 from beyond the arc (33.3 3P%). Meanwhile, Marcus Smart spoke a bit more in detail about the comparisons with the Warriors’ dynasty, especially.
“Both teams did a good job of getting in paint, controlling the paint, scoring in the paint, and then the 3s start falling after that. With those Warrior teams, everybody thought they shot the ball very well, and that’s what’s killing [it].”
“But give up 60 paint points? That’s it right there. If you’re giving up paint points like that and 3s, then that’s when it starts to get out of hand,” said Smart.
The 32-year-old defensive guard seemed to have no answer for the Thunder’s offense as he was among the team’s top four players with the worst net (+/-) rating last night (-22). He finished the game with 10 points, three rebounds, and three assists while shooting 3-7 from the field (42.9 FG%) and 1-2 from behind the three-point line (50.0 3P%).
The Thunder had 64 points in the paint in Game 3 and 51 points from the three-point line [17 threes made]. During the Warriors’ dynasty run, they averaged between 42 and 48 points per game in the paint and about 12 or 13 threes made.
The defending champions’ numbers from Game 3 look a lot more lethal, but on average, their offense produced similar numbers in this postseason (49.6 points in the paint per game, 14.3 threes made) alone.
We will surely revisit this conversation for a concrete answer on whether the Thunder are even a dynasty team if the Thunder manages to go back-to-back seasons as champions. But until then, they do look set to potentially give the Warriors a solid argument in the debate of which team had a better peak in their dynasty.
