Re-Visiting OKC Thunder's Projected Win Total After Preseason
Heading into the NBA regular season, Oklahoma City has one of the most anticipated teams in the Thunder. It's been this way all offseason, as they had a 16-win jump a season ago, and that was with former No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren out for the season.
Now, the young Thunder squad has had a year together as they look to make another leap, this time with Holmgren in the lineup. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is an All-NBA and All-Star guard, with Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams both holding star potential.
All of these narratives have been pushed even harder in preseason. The starting lineup, when all playing together, looked incredible. Holmgren, even in limited minutes, put up some great numbers alongside the squad while seemingly being the perfect fifth starter the team needed.
So, while the Thunder held some pretty solid expectations heading into the season, their projected over/under win total seemed pretty solid at 44.5 wins (via FanDuel). After what they've shown as a squad in preseason, that seems much more obtainable for the Thunder.
If the starters are going to mesh early, which seems to be the case after watching them in the preseason, this isn't a crazy line to take the over on. On top of this, the depth looks real. Ousmane Dieng looks ready for the next step in his role. Aleksej Pokusevski will be returning and, if healthy, can make a real positive impact.
Of course, the depth goes beyond those two, as players like Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins are perfect players to contribute to incredible regular season success. All around, it seems as if the Thunder has a make and mold of a team that can see real regular season success.
While it's not completely fair to measure success in the preseason when looking at an 82-game schedule, it sure seems like this team could mesh and play well together sooner than maybe expected.
For a team that's unproven when it comes to the postseason, though holds the talent to win plenty of regular season games, it's hard to imagine the Thunder can't steal a playoff spot -- not a play-in spot -- in the upcoming season, and likely sees the team winning 45 or more games.
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