If NBA fans had been polled prior to the season about which four teams would be the last to lose a regular season game, it’s safe to assume the defending champion Thunder would have received a ton of votes. So it doesn’t come as a huge surprise that Oklahoma City – which set a new NBA record by winning a 21st consecutive game against an Eastern Conference opponent on Thursday, per Nick Gallo (Twitter link) – is the league’s only 6-0 team entering Friday’s games.
But fans would presumably have hard a much tougher time predicting the other three teams in that undefeated group alongside the Thunder. After 10 days of regular season action, the Spurs (5-0), Sixers (4-0), and Bulls (4-0) also haven’t lost a game.
Incredibly, while the Spurs have been playing in the NBA for a half-century and have won five titles during that time, this is the first year the team has ever gotten off to a 5-0 start. As Michael C. Wright of ESPN details, Victor Wembanyama has been leading the way by playing at an MVP level. After piling up 26 points, 18 rebounds, and five blocked shots on Thursday vs. Miami, Wembanyama leads the league in rebounds (14.6) and blocks (4.8) per game while also averaging 30.2 points per night.
“It feels great,” Wembanyama said of the Spurs’ five consecutive wins, per Wright. “It’s not random. We didn’t get those five wins randomly. We worked for it. We started this season strong, and we need to keep that streak going for as long as possible.”
As impressive as the Spurs’ hot start has been on the heels of a 34-win performance in 2024/25, it’s not the most surprising season-opening run. That honor belongs to either the Sixers, who went 24-58 last season and still haven’t had star forward Paul George in their lineup, or the Bulls, a perennial play-in team who had an over/under of 32.5 wins prior to the season.
Besides not having George available yet, the Sixers have had star center Joel Embiid on a minutes restriction — he has played in just three of the team’s four games and has logged 21.0 minutes per night. Philadelphia’s success has been largely driven by a trio of guards, Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Quentin Grimes, who have combined to average a remarkable 77.5 points per night, led by 37.5(!) from Maxey.
While the 76ers’ ability to make a deep playoff run in the spring will largely come down to what Embiid and George can give them, the fact that they’re thriving in the early going without major contributions from either of those two veteran stars is an extremely encouraging sign.
As for the Bulls, they opened the season with wins over three far trendier Eastern Conference playoff picks – the Pistons, Magic, and Hawks – before beating old friends Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan on Wednesday in a victory over the Kings. As Paul Sullivan of The Chicago Tribune (subscription required) writes, the Bulls – without top scorer Coby White – are succeeding as a result of a balanced offensive attack, with at least six players scoring in double figures in all four of their victories and no one averaging more than 20 points per game.
Whether their strong start will continue is up for debate, but Josh Giddey seems to be carrying his momentum from last year’s strong second half over to 2025/26, while Matas Buzelis is taking a step forward in his second NBA season and veteran center Nikola Vucevic continues to be a reliable source of offense. Role players like Tre Jones (.581/.625/.750), Ayo Dosunmu (.524/.500/.857), and Patrick Williams (.542/.500/.571) have all be on fire to open the season too.
We want to know what you think of those four undefeated teams. While there’s probably not much to say about the Thunder, what do you make of the Spurs’, Sixers’, and Bulls’ hot starts? Will they come back to earth sooner rather than later, or have you seen enough so far to feel confident about those teams’ chances to exceed their preseason expectations? Which team will be the last to lose a game this season?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
It’s amazing that the thunder are doing this without arguably their second best player-Jalen Williams. The Spurs are doing this without their second best – Fox (and Sochan + Kornet out for 3 games ).
As mentioned the Sixers are doing this with that PG and the minute restricted Embiid, and the balls without their best player.
The schedule was very easy for Spurs, bulls, and Sixers though. What the thunder are doing is just spectacular!
Even mediocre teams win 4 in a row during the regular season at times. Lets talk in December.
to win 4 in a row is nothing if a team has a soft schedule.
10th seed Rockets and 11th seed Wolves may be better teams than Bulls and 76ers.
Do you agree with it?
Playing most games at home is a big factor in Chicago’s, Philly’s and San Antonio’s starts.
OKC are for real. That’s certain.
OKC and SAS are not surprises at all. OKC is only a few months away from finishing a 68 win season with a championship, they’re young (relatively) and returning a pat hand. It would be a story if they were anything worse than 5-1. SAS, with Wemby, was always going to win big as soon as they stopped trying to lose. Like OKC before them, SAS’s W/L record over the next couple of years will suggest historically great improvement, but it’s mostly illusory.
PHI and CHI are sort of surprises, but it’s 4 games. In PHI’s case, the season is still about the health of Embid. If he plays 75% of the games going forward, they should be expected to be a playoff team.
CHI, on the other hand, I didn’t have penciled in as a playoff team. But they look good so far. Like others, I probably underestimated the benefits across the roster of being rid of high maintenance 1 way players like DeRozan and LaVine. We’ll see.
Winning is always better …. We know Thunder are for real. Spurs we also knew would be better this year. I am surprised they are doing this without Fox.
Bulls and Sixers is good news for them. Both missing players and winning. It’s a long season. I always like to give teams 20-25 gms. Before I start getting critical.
Game to game you see how players are reacting and playing. The team you have to give some time.
Knicks better show up for Bulls tonight. They need this one. Getting some players back tonight. Knicks have a good hm stretch coming. Bulls have a tough next three wks.