Oklahoma City a Heavy Betting Favorite Against New Orleans

The Thunder are expected to handle business against the Pelicans.

Mar 26, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) dunks / Matthew Hinton-USA TODAY Sports

Oklahoma City secured the No. 1 seed in a loaded Western Conference last week and had to wait for its postseason opponent until the play-in games concluded. After New Orleans knocked off Sacramento, the Thunder’s first-round matchup was set in stone — and it appears to be a favorable one.

Mark Daigneault’s squad has had plenty of success against the Pelicans this season, and it’s showing via the pre-series odds. Oklahoma City and New Orleans will tip off in OKC on Sunday night, and the Thunder opened up as eight-point favorites. Outside of Boston and Miami, that’s the highest spread of any first-round matchup in the NBA playoffs.

In addition to the opening game, Oklahoma City also has heavy odds to win the series as a whole. According to Shams Charania and FanDuel, the Thunder enters the seven-game series at -650 to advance to the second round. Once again, the only odds that are more drastic are the Celtics at -8000.

Oklahoma City is the No. 1 seed in the hardest conference for a reason, and Vegas seems to like their odds. The Pelicans will likely be without Zion Williamson for the first few games which could hurt the team's operation on both ends of the floor. Williamson looked like the team's clear best player before going down in the first play-in game.

In addition to solid odds against the Pelicans, Oklahoma City is well respected in terms of championship odds too. The Thunder have +1300 odds to win the NBA Finals, which is good for third best in the postseason. Oklahoma City is only behind the Nuggets and the Celtics, who are at +320 and +120, respectively. If the Thunder can take care of business against New Orleans and have a bit of time to rest before round two, it would be ideal.

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