The West rival’s record run is a warning shot about the Suns’ chances of success

After the trials and tribulations of last season, even the most optimistic Phoenix Suns fans couldn’t have predicted the organization is off to a 6-1 start. There were many factors at play for this – and some things actively working against it – which is a great sign for this group.

It’s not just a new head coach in Mike Budenholzer or the continued great performances of Kevin Durant or even a rookie in Ryan Dunn who was the perfect addition to this roster. It’s not even as if Devin Booker is returning to form midseason and looking as efficient as ever. It’s all of these things together and more.

The Thunder are currently the only team in the Western Conference looking down on the Suns, with a perfect record of 7-0. Even more damaging to the Valley’s hopes was that the Thunder also had a punishing postseason experience of their own last season when they were defeated by the Dallas Mavericks in the conference semifinals.

Another key difference with the Suns was that they had the financial flexibility to make changes to their roster to improve, bringing in Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein this summer to add an MVP candidate in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander add to. So they now have valuable playoff experience and the necessary reinforcements to be better in 2025.

All of this combined has resulted in the Thunder having a fearsome record that should worry the Suns. No team has ever won its first seven games by more than 10 points – without losing a single time. Until the Thunder did just that with their 102-86 victory over an Orlando Magic team that doesn’t look nearly as scary as it did a week ago.

The level of opposition the Thunder have faced during this record-breaking winning streak is quite impressive – although it’s on a similar level to that of the Suns, whose only loss came at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers. However, the Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets, and while they don’t look like they used to, that’s not nothing.

They also beat an LA Clippers team that the Suns already have two wins against, although the win over the San Antonio Spurs was perhaps the most impressive of all so far. They may be a squad regrouping, but the way they managed to restrict phenom Victor Wembanyama to six points in 28 minutes will have caught the eye.

The Suns lost two games to the Spurs this time last year – that really set the tone for the entire season – and it became apparent early on that they were having difficulty retaining bigger players who had the potential to make an impact internally dominate. Not that center Jusuf Nurkic has doubled his performance in this area of ​​the field so far this season.

By keeping Wembanyama quiet, the Thunder have shown that they have the players in Caruso, Chet Holmgren, Lu Dort and Jalen Williams (Hartenstein has not yet played due to injury) to keep any opponent quiet. The sample size is small, but unsurprisingly, their defensive rating of 93.8 is not only the best grade in the league, but would also rank as the best of all time.

That’s what makes the meeting between the Suns and Thunder later this month such an important matchup. It has the added spice of being an Emirates NBA Cup game – and if the Suns can manage to get a win against the hottest team from the West so far this season, then they’re in serious business.