NBA Preview: Thunder, A New Hope

The Thunder stunned the NBA world by, not only making the playoffs, but taking the Rockets to seven games in the first round after most analysts counted them out at the start of the 2019-2020 campaign.

Even Chris Paul wasn’t too sure about the success after saying he was going to focus on helping his teammates with their finances before the season even started.

This was all before the emergence of young star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The 6’5 point guard averaged 19.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG, and 3.3 APG. Shai invigorated the passionate Oklahoma City fanbase with a breakout year and gave them hope for the future.

Look for Shai to trend up and put up better numbers as management will want to get him heavily involved to unlock his full potential.

Thunder GM Sam Presti has been busy making phone calls. Presti has amassed 17 first-round draft picks through 2026. No that’s not a typo. Presti deserves NBA executive of the year and is worth a wager if you can find a plus line.

Thunder fans should be absolutely ecstatic about 17 first-round draft picks over the next six years for multiple reasons such as 17 chances of drafting the talent of tomorrow or trade fuel to land a veteran superstar in the next year or two if they bullseye a first-round draft pick early. There is hope after the Adams, Gallinari, and Paul departures.

To keep them competitive, the Thunder do have some veterans they acquired in George Hill, Trevor Ariza, and Al Horford. All of which are past their primes, but can still easily play in this league.

I do not believe the Thunder will have a repeat of last year’s success. No fan likes a rebuild, but this may be the rare exception. Draft day will be the NBA Finals for this fanbase for the future.

If you are wanting to bet the Thunder with confidence, it’s best to only do so against other bottom-tier teams. You will want to watch their winning and losing streaks and determine which games to hammer to be most effective. This team is still capable of pulling off an upset against mid-tier teams so beware of unusually high money lines.

The Thunder will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2014-2015 season. I am projecting this team to go 30-52 in the regular season.

 

 

 

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