The Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers entered the 2025-26 NBA season with similar expectations - both were pegged as serious contenders, potential finalists come June. But here in late January, the paths they’ve taken couldn’t be more different.
Let’s start with what’s working: the Thunder. At 36-8, Oklahoma City holds the best record in the league and sits comfortably atop the Western Conference. Their rise isn’t a fluke or a product of an easy schedule - it’s the result of a team that’s bought in on both ends of the floor, especially defensively, where they’re setting the standard for the rest of the NBA.
Cleveland, on the other hand, is sitting at 24-20, clinging to the middle of the Eastern Conference pack and still trying to escape the Play-In conversation. Injuries have been a factor - they always are over the course of an 82-game season - but that excuse doesn’t hold up when you look at what OKC has overcome.
The Thunder have had just 24 games apiece from Jalen Williams and Isaiah Hartenstein, two key pieces of their rotation. Yet they haven’t missed a beat.
When these two teams met on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the difference in execution was glaring.
The Thunder walked into Cleveland and handed the Cavs a 136-104 loss - a blowout that didn’t just showcase Oklahoma City’s firepower, but their discipline. Donovan Mitchell summed it up afterward: “They do the little things consistently.
… They're elite at it. They're defending champions for a reason."
That last point is important. The Thunder aren’t just winning games - they’re defending their title with the kind of attention to detail that separates good teams from great ones.
Their defense has been nothing short of elite. A league-best 105.2 defensive rating puts them well ahead of the pack.
For context, the next closest team - the Pistons - sits at 108.5. That gap speaks volumes.
And this isn’t new. Oklahoma City led the league in defensive rating last season too (106.6), proving this is more than a hot streak. It’s a system, a culture, and a commitment to doing the dirty work.
Cleveland? They’ve slipped.
Last season, the Cavs were eighth in defensive rating at 111.8. This year, they’ve dropped to 15th (114.6).
That’s a significant dip, but it’s been especially rough lately. Over their last 10 games, the Cavs rank 21st in defensive rating (116.2), a number that lands them among the league’s bottom tier.
The biggest issue? Perimeter defense.
Cleveland’s been getting beat off the dribble, giving up open threes, and struggling with rotations - the exact kind of breakdowns that championship-caliber teams don’t allow. It's not just about effort or personnel; it’s about habits.
The Thunder have them. The Cavs don’t.
And that’s really the heart of the matter. Talent isn’t the issue in Cleveland.
They’ve got it. But they’re not maximizing it.
The best teams - the ones that compete in June - don’t just rely on star power. They win the possession battles, they rotate on time, they close out hard, and they communicate.
That’s what OKC is doing night in and night out. That’s what Cleveland isn’t.
The Thunder are showing what it looks like when a team embraces the grind. The Cavaliers are showing what happens when talent isn’t backed by discipline.
One team looks like a champion. The other looks like it’s still trying to figure out who it wants to be.