ESPN projects OKC Thunder 30th in preseason power rankings

The 2021-22 NBA season tips off this evening with two matches. Game one features the Milwaukee Bucks collecting their rings and raising the championship banner. They’ll face the team Vegas and most analysts are tapping to win the title at season end – the Brooklyn Nets. That two former OKC Thunder players will be driving the Nets forward is a not too subtle reminder of what could have been here in Brick Town.

Game two features the big market draws — the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Stephen Curry providing the superstar fodder. The OKC Thunder will play tomorrow in Utah as they face the Jazz in their season opener and then travel to Houston to play the Rockets.

On Sunday, the Thunder will host the Philadelphia 76ers in their own home opener in the newly named Paycom Center.

ESPN ranks OKC Thunder 30th in preseason power rankings

With the team focused on development (and tanking — shhhhh) it doesn’t mean Thunder Nation will be less invested in witnessing the progress the youngsters can make this season. That’s not to say analysts aren’t piling on board to predict the club will finish in the bottom tier.  Hey, it would be great if OKC can turn around their luck this year to get the lottery ball bounce and the top draft pick so we’re not holding any bottom seeds against prognosticators.

With that in mind, ESPN served up their preseason power rankings with the OKC Thunder garnering their bottom seed. Kevin Pelton served up the excerpt (part of which is listed below).

"Pivot point for 2021-22: How badly do the Thunder want to improve lottery odds?The biggest question about the 2021-22 Thunder is how hard they’ll push for lottery positioning. Oklahoma City proved more competitive in the first half of last season than expected, leaving the team in a suboptimal spot despite the dreadful finish.The Thunder still have up to 12 extra first-round picks coming through 2027, not counting swaps, but none of those are sure to be near the top of the draft. Oklahoma City has more control over its own pick, the best chance of landing the kind of top-four selection that yielded the Thunder’s last generation of homegrown superstars (Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook)."

Clearly, everyone is uber focused on how competitive the Thunder will be this season and whether that means the team will need to make tweaks as the season progresses. It was one thing last year for SGA to be dealing with plantar fasciitis — but what will Sam Presti do this year if the team is more competitive than they desire?

Could Mark Daigneault be put into a position where he has to purposely rest SGA, Luguentz Dort, and others to ensure losses?

The full segment on the team outlines the projected win totals –  a high of 23.5 and a low of 19 from the three sites. Rookie Josh Giddey was tapped not surprisingly as the biggest offseason acquisition. Also, no shock that cornerstone Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is tapped to be the player that will have a breakout campaign.