Why Betting on an Oklahoma City Thunder Dynasty Is a Massive Mistake

In recent times, the Golden State Warriors and LeBron James-led teams have tricked people into thinking winning in basketball is easy. I don’t blame basketball fans either; it’s a sport built on dynasties throughout its history. The Lakers and Celtics are the biggest teams in the sport because of the successes they’ve had since the sport began.

Since those dynasties of old, the sport has changed massively, primarily due to Grant Williams as the players' association president, and his implementation of the second apron. When a team is above the apron, roster construction is so tricky, and owners are reluctant to pay exorbitant amounts of taxes.

Between the second apron and how max contracts are given out, we’ve seen a level of parity in the NBA that we haven’t seen since the '70s. That’s why it's so dumb that sportsbooks are offering a bet on the Thunder to threepeat at only +750.

I get why the bet is being offered. It's the reason Vegas is made of gold, and from sucker bets like this. Since 2019, we haven’t seen a single team repeat as conference champion, so having the Thunder win the next two titles at such low odds is insane.

This isn’t disrespect towards the Thunder either. If I had to pick one team to win the finals this year, I’d certainly still bet on them, but they aren’t close to being invincible. Just last season, they were taken to seven games against a Pacers team that almost nobody picked to win the series, or even make it.

Then in the West, the Nuggets are finally adding some talent around Nikola Jokic, and the Spurs are starting to look like a team that’s in a spot to compete. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might be the defending MVP, but I think he might be the third-best player in the West, and you could easily argue he’s lower than that. There’s way too much talent in the West right now that anyone could win it.

Look at the Celtics, they were by far the favorites to win the championship last season, but they were handled easily by the Knicks, Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles, and now they’re fighting for a lottery spot with all the roster turnover they’ve had this season. The Thunder are young, they have tons of draft capital, and have the depth to stay under the second apron. I just wouldn’t bet on them to start a dynasty without seeing more from this group of guys.