Thunder Game Tonight: Thunder vs Wolves Odds, Starting Lineup, Injury Report, Predictions, for Oct. 23

The OKC Thunder will play their third game of the season tonight. It’s the home opener for the club at the Paycom Center with tip-off at 5:00 pm EST and 4:00 pm CT.  The opponent is the Minnesota Timberwolves who they opened the season against on Wednesday.

It’s also the first back-to-back set for the OKC Thunder who played on Saturday in Denver, losing again although they put up a good fight.

The Wolves split their two matches defeating the Thunder in Minnesota to open the season. Rudy Gobert faced his former squad next with the Wolves losing in overtime to the Jazz.

A somewhat surprising result as they were presumed to be tanking after Danny Ainge traded the defensive specialist, Donovan Mitchell, and Bojan Bogdanovic away this offseason.

OKC Thunder vs Minnesota Timberwolves Odds, Spread, Over/Under

The latest odds from Odds Shark have Minnesota listed as 7.5-point favorites with an over/under mark of 225.5 points. The money line is set at +250 for the Thunder and -295 for the Wolves.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

Thunder Starting Lineup:

As predicted Mark Daigneault changed up his starting rotation in Denver opting to insert Jeremiah Robinson-Earl in place of Kenrich Williams. Presumably, he’ll go with JRE again in this contest to offset the size of the T-Wolves’ big frontcourt. The other option would be to start Ousmane Dieng who had a good stretch of minutes in Minny.

• Josh Giddey
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• Jeremiah Robinson-Earl
• Luguentz Dort
• Aleksej Pokusevski

Thunder Injury Report

The injury report remains the same as it was for the Denver match with Chet Holmgren out (he’ll miss the entire season) due to a Lisfranc fracture and subsequent surgery.

Jalen Williams as noted below is expected to be out until November after taking an errant Jaden McDaniels elbow to the face resulting in a broken orbital bone.

Wolves injuries:  Kyle Anderson will miss the game Sunday due to back spasms.

OKC Thunder vs. Denver Nuggets Prediction

Although the OKC Thunder are winless in this new campaign they’ve been in both games. The Nuggets were playing on their own back-to-back Saturday and didn’t get home until 4:00 AM so were playing on tired legs.

The teams were all knotted at the half and the game came right down to clutch time to decide.

Once again, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the team in scoring with 28 points along with seven assists, three rebounds, a steal, and an unfortunate five turnovers. Josh Giddey recorded a double-double of 19 points and 12 boards plus six assists.

Head coach, Mark Daigneault offered high praise for the Nuggets’ play:

"“Credit Denver, I thought they made big shots tonight, 52 percent from 3. They made us pay for every mistake with their shooting, which is what good teams do.” – Daigneault"

In the match against the Wolves on Wednesday, the Thunder fell behind early and had to fight to get back in the game. SGA and Giddey were the offensive threats as well on Wednesday with Shai scoring 32 points and Giddey delivering a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds.

The team shot a meager 38.4 percent from the field and 31.1 percent from the perimeter in the loss. When the Thunder came out after the break they upped their defensive intensity winning the frame 35 to 22 but weren’t able to maintain the pressure in the fourth losing the match 108-115.

With fresher legs, the Wolves have the advantage plus they’ll want to make a statement since they haven’t delivered a full 48-minute effort yet in this young season.

The Thunder are also seeking their first win and have a tough stretch upcoming with consecutive games against the LA Clippers and the Mavericks. The lone team that isn’t considered a playoff contender in their next seven matches is the Magic.

Wolves 117, Thunder 113

What channel is the Thunder-Wolves game on?

Per usual the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports Oklahoma or NBA League Pass. Tip-Off is set for 5:00 p.m. EST (4:00 CT) from the Paycom Center, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

OKC Thunder vs. Minnesota Timberwolves Live Stream

If you need a live stream of the event, check out FuboTV for a free trial!

Thunder Next Game and Schedule

Next week the Thunder play three matches including hosting the LA Clippers in the MLB (baseball) -style scheduling in OKC on Tuesday, October 25th, and Thursday, October 27th.

Then they’ll finish the week on the road to Dallas facing the Mavericks on Saturday, October 29th.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.