Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points in just three quarters as NBA champions the Oklahoma City Thunder thumped the New Orleans Pelicans 137-106 to push their season-opening win streak to 7-0.

The Thunder, who have matched the 7-0 start of their 2024-25 championship campaign, dominated the winless Pelicans on Sunday despite three key absences.

Guard Luguentz Dort was sidelined by illness, forward Chet Holmgren missed a third straight game with a lower back injury and All-Star Jalen Williams has yet to make his season debut after off-season wrist surgery.

The Thunder connected on 56 percent of their shots, including 20-of-48 from three-point range, keeping their offence popping with 33 assists.

Aaron Wiggins added 15 points while Cason Wallace and Isaiah Joe added 13 each for Oklahoma City, who had eight players score in double figures.

While coach Mark Daigneault was pleased to see the shots falling, he said the dominant performance was a reward for the Thunder's persistence in an early season stretch that hasn't been as easy as their record makes it look.

"I thought the team showed a great maturity because we weren't making a tonne of shots early in the season but we just continued to improve the things that generate good shots," he said.

"And tonight we got good shots again – we have the last two games – and they fell.

"To me, it was more about the persistence that we've shown through a rough shooting stretch more so than how we played tonight in a vacuum." (AFP)