Betting on the Oklahoma City Thunder
Oklahoma’s rich history of college athletics is perfectly complemented by the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder remain a popular professional sports betting team in states offering legal sportsbooks.
Oklahoma City Thunder Team Overview
The Thunder are one of the few NBA franchises that arrived in their home city via team relocation. Their storied past goes back to Seattle as the SuperSonics.
The SuperSonics entered the NBA in 1967 as an expansion team. A little over a decade later, the team brought an NBA Championship to the city. Seattle beat the Washington Bullets four games to one in the 1979 NBA Finals with Lenny Wilkins as the head coach.
This dominating series win was only fitting after the Super Sonics lost the 1978 NBA Finals to Washington in a thrilling seven-game series.
The team relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008 to begin a brand new legacy in the NBA. The star attraction that season and for the next eight years was Kevin Durant. He was joined by Russell Westbrook as another elite player in the NBA.
This duo came close to bringing home a world title to Oklahoma City during their joint tenure with the team. The Thunder went to the NBA Finals in 2012 but came up short against the Miami Heat in a 4-1 series loss.
Oklahoma City plays in the Northwest Division of the NBA’s Western Conference. With team roots still embedded in Seattle, the Portland Trail Blazers remain a bitter rival. In recent years, rivalries with the Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves have emerged as members of the same division.
The Thunder have also developed rivalries against the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs. These are tied to border connections between Oklahoma and Texas.
The rich history of this NBA franchise also contributes to the team’s appeal to bettors. Over the years regardless of who is coaching the team, defense has always been a strong suit of Oklahoma City. This team trait lends itself to betting the NBA total line.
Total line bets only focus on the combined score of each team in a matchup. With a defensive-minded team such as the Thunder, the UNDER on that total line becomes an attractive bet.
As an example, if the NBA total line is set at 210 points and the combined score of that game is 209 points or less, the UNDER is the winning bet. If the combined score is higher than 210 points, the OVER on the total line wins.
Updated on: 10/4/2022
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Betting on the Oklahoma City Thunder in Oklahoma
Betting on Thunder games and sports in general is currently illegal in Oklahoma. However, there is an ongoing effort to bring legal sports betting to in-state tribal casinos.
Across the state, there are 33 different gaming tribes recognized by the federal government. With close to 150 gaming venues in place, Oklahoma would have a vibrant retail network of sportsbooks.
Gaming tribes may also have the ability to offer online sports betting depending on their gaming compacts.
