Best Bet – Thunder under 31.5 wins (-110)
Worst Bet – Thunder to win the Northwest Division (+2000)
The Oklahoma City Thunder had another good regular season last year and it seemed like they were maybe only a couple of pieces away to compete in the Western Conference, especially with the Warriors maybe taking a little step back. Thunder fans came into this offseason excited with the idea that this team could add maybe one player and really go for it to win the title this year.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and Kawhi Leonard decided he wanted to play with Paul George and the Thunder were suddenly forced to send George to the Clippers. The selling wasn’t done though with the team moving on from their franchise player Russell Westbrook and sending him off to to the Rockets. In return the team received Chris Paul, who is still a good player, but the team has tried to move him and there is a chance he might not be on the roster when the season starts.
This team still has talent but most of the guys are coming in new, and there are still questions about how they will fit. This year feels like a rebuild and if the season starts off slow there is a good chance they could be selling off more pieces at the trade deadline.
This honestly is one of the harder teams to predict because there are so many questions and I might wait until closer to the season when there are more answers on how exactly to attack this team in terms of betting.
Thunder Win Total: O/U 31.5 Wins
While a lot of the teams got better in the Western Conference (thanks to the Thunder), the Thunder were one of the teams that got worse, and they got a lot worse.
This team still has Paul (for now) and he is going to win the team some games, but with the pieces lost there can not be high expectations for this team. I expect this team is going to get off to a slow start which means the second half of the season will be played with a bunch of pieces thrown in because the team might trade away Paul or someone like Danilo Gallinari to a contender.
The team has made it a priority to stockpile draft picks and I expect they will try to get a couple more when the trade deadline comes around. I think this team will have flashes of being good but at the end of the day they will be one of the worst teams in the conference, and they will finish with less than 31.5 wins.
Odds to make the playoffs: Yes +450, No -600
The Thunder basically have everything going against them this season. Not only did they lose George and Westbrook, they also play in a Western Conference that is loaded with talent, and it’s going to be tough every game.
I know the Thunder have Chris Paul but he is aging and although he might be fun to watch, I don’t know how many wins that is going to result in.
The Suns are still going to be the Suns, but there could be arguments made that there is a better chance they finish in one one of the last three Western Conference sports rather than make a playoff appearance.
Laying -600 odds isn’t fun, especially when your money is going to be locked up until the playoffs start next year, but there is still extreme value here. Maybe if they were in the Eastern Conference they could sneak into the playoffs, but that isn’t going to happen in the Western Conference. Lay the -600 on the Thunder to miss the playoffs.
Odds to win the Northwest +2000
The Northwest Division is competitive but one of the teams that won’t be competing for it is the Oklahoma City Thunder and even at +2000 they offer ZERO value.
The Thunder actually have the worst odds to win the Northwest Division behind even the Timberwolves and I expect that is exactly where they will finish, in last place. It’s hard to take a team seriously when they have made it clear that they aren’t playing for this year, so I am not taking them seriously.
People are going to be tempted just based on the odds and the name to maybe throw a dart at the dartboard and hope to cash in big but your best bet is to buy a couple of drinks for that ten dollars because at least that way you get something.
The Thunder have ZERO chance to win this division.
Odds to win Western Conference +6600
It’s really hard to win the Western Conference when you aren’t even close to making the playoffs and this team will be watching postseason basketball from their couch. If this team somehow made the playoffs it would be shocking, but if they do somehow get there it won’t be any higher than a seven seed and they should be knocked out in the first round.
Even at +6600 there is zero value, this team has no shot at winning the Western Conference.
Odds to win NBA Championship +10,000
Who would have thought coming into this season a few months ago that the Thunder would be +10,000 to win the NBA Title? I sure didn’t think that would be the case and I don’t think many others did either but this team is trying to reload for another run a couple of years down the road.
Don’t waste your money, this team isn’t winning the NBA title.
