“73 wins took a couple of years off my life.” That was the cost of going 73-9 in one really bright NBA season, Draymond Green claimed. He was actually asked if the Oklahoma City Thunder could match his team’s historic 2015-16 record. For a decade, it looked impossible. Now, not so much. OKC breezed to a 21-1 record after beating the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday. They look poised to match, or even surpass, the win-loss record. But does Green think so?

“They’re a great team, man,” he said on The Draymond Green Show. “I think, of course, they can do it.”

The operating word is ‘can.’

Green just had to remind the rollercoaster Cleveland fans went through last season. The Cavaliers started the 2024-25 season strong, going unbeaten at 16-0. On paper, and by the Inside the NBA analysis, they were title contenders. But as the season progresses, the process does get tougher.

“I think they are capable of doing it,” Green continued, delivering his hammer blow right after. “Do they actually do it? I’m going to say no.”

The veteran floor general also believes the Thunder shouldn’t focus on beating the Warriors’ record. Their goal is to go back-to-back as champions by taking it one game at a time. They face the Dallas Mavericks on Friday.

To be clear, Green is not gatekeeping his team’s record in any way. He’s just speaking from experience.

Warriors’ historic season scarred Draymond Green

Someone on the 2015-16 Warriors squad would know well the hard push it takes for a team to go undefeated beyond the first few games. Earlier this week, Green said that the Thunder can break the 73-win season record as long as everything, primarily health, goes right.

But if Green had the option, he wouldn’t do it again.

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“I pushed the streak, pushed the record,” Green said. “But looking back on it, I never want to try that again. S—‘s hard. Stressful. Really stressful,”

Somehow, that was interpreted negatively online.

He had elaborated on the podcast that it’s easy to think they have it in the bag at the start of the season, but mounting injuries and fatigue midseason are the real test. The Warriors are already undermanned. De’Anthony Melton barely came back from ACL surgery, while Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler are sidelined. Al Horford is occasionally day-to-day; they have other ins and outs on the injury list too. Now Draymond Green is injured.

That was something they went through in 2015-16 as well. Green even hid a concussion to play the last few games! All the hardship of making it to the end and winning the 73rd game made it exhilarating, not just for the record.

It was a rollercoaster, though. The Warriors couldn’t have had a better start, winning their first 24 games. But they still needed five wins of their last six games. Sure, they made history, but at a high cost. Curry suffered a foot injury in the playoff opener itself. He returned in later rounds, but they ended up running out of gas against the Cleveland Cavaliers before the finish line.