Last season, the Oklahoma City Thunder made it to the brink of the playoffs, losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the final round of the play-in tournament. Nevertheless, the season only can be seen as a resounding success, with OKC winning 40 games, an improvement from just 24 wins the previous year.
The engine of the Thunder’s turnaround was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, whose 31.4 points per game ranked fourth in the NBA. That kept SGA in the MVP conversation throughout the 2022-23 campaign. There is no legal Oklahoma sports betting yet, but nationally you can get +1800 odds on Gilgeous-Alexander to win MVP at BetMGM. That places him eighth on the odds board.
Now, with the new NBA season just a few weeks away, Thunder fans must be itching to see their squad back on the court. But how many games will Oklahoma City win this year? One way to gauge the team’s prospects in 2023-24 is to consider OKC Thunder’s season win-total in betting markets.
With no Oklahoma sports betting apps, we turn to the Vegas odds, which set the over/under for OKC wins this season at 44.5. To hit the over, OKC needs to win five more games than last year, which almost certainly would ensure another visit to the play-in, if not an outright postseason appearance.
But how accurate have bookmakers been when setting the Oklahoma City Thunder’s win total? To find out, BetOklahoma.com used historical data from SportsOddsHistory.com to see how the Thunder has finished the year compared to the win-total set during the preseason. Below we’ve listed the Thunder’s opening win-total, alongside their final record, for each year dating back to 2010-2011. While we included the stats from the lock-out shortened 2011-12 season, we did not, however, include the results of the 2019-2020 season, which was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thunder Season Win Total History
Closer Look at Thunder Against Wins Total
Since the departure of Durant to the Golden State Warriors in 2016, followed by Westbrook’s exit in 2019, the re-building Thunder has seen their season win-total plummet. For the past three years, OKC’s win projection has hovered between 22.5 and 23.5 games. For the 2023-24 season, oddsmakers have increased their win total to 44.5. A notable jump.
However, the young squad shows a lot of promise, even beyond All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Third-year guard Josh Giddey continues to impress, and Jalen Williams will be entering his sophomore season after finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2022-23. Also, one of last year's top draft picks, talented big man Chet Holmgren, will make his debut after missing last season due to injury. While we are not to bet on the games just yet, stick with BetOklahoma.com throughout the NBA season for all the latest news and analysis on the Oklahoma City Thunder, as well as for Oklahoma sports betting promo codes when wagering does arrive.
