The Oklahoma City Thunder do not have the worst record in the NBA. Still, it’s hard to argue that there’s a worse team in the league right now, as the Thunder consistently get stomped and somehow look more listless than the final score implies. To that end, perhaps the result of Saturday night’s game against the Indiana Pacers isn’t surprising, even if they set a high-water mark for futility in the process.
Indiana walked into Oklahoma City and mollywhopped the Thunder, 152-95. According to ESPN, that 57-point margin of defeat makes this the worst home loss in the history of the league.
The Thunder lost to the Pacers 152-95. OKC's 57-point margin of defeat is the worst home loss in NBA history.
Meanwhile, the Pacers are the 1st team to score 150 points and give up less than 100 since 1993, when the Kings beat the 76ers, 154-98. pic.twitter.com/mGndRJjBp3
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 2, 2021
Some credit goes to the Thunder’s players for fighting, I suppose, as the team trailed by as many as 67, which would have narrowly avoided being the most one-sided loss in league history — the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Miami Heat by 68 points in 1991. With Al Horford shut down for the rest of the year despite being healthy, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dealing with a foot injury that looks set to keep him sidelined until the end of the campaign, and the team prioritizing giving guys minutes with an eye on the future over trying to win right now, perhaps they’ll find a way to topple that record before the year ends.
