'Through the Wire' Podcast Analyzes Potential Thunder Win Total

The Oklahoma City Thunder shocked much of the basketball community last season, winning 40 games after being predicted to win just 24 prior to the start of the season.

The first iteration of the Thunder made a similar drastic leap between the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. After winning 23 games in 2008-09, the young team won a whopping 50 games the following year.

Coming off of last season's impressive showing, plenty of NBA fans and media have a high opinion of OKC and its future, predicting that the Thunder will take another leap in 2023-24.

Through the Wire is a podcast produced by House of Highlights, hosted by popular content creators Kenny Beechum, Pierre Andresen, Mike Heard and Darrick Miller. The show takes a look at the NBA and the league's biggest storylines from a fan perspective.

The podcast has over 500 total episodes and has seen great success, even recording episodes in TNT's Studio J, the typical site of Inside the NBA.

On the show's most recent episode, the four hosts looked at the over/under win totals for every team in the NBA heading into the 2023-24 season. With the Thunder's over/under for the upcoming season set at 44.5 wins, three members of the show picked Oklahoma City to hit the under, meaning they would win 44 games or less.

Beechum, however, picked OKC to win more than 44 games, citing the return of Chet Holmgren as a major factor for the team's success.

"I'm going over,' Beechum said. "I just convinced myself. Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) is going to be... great again. (Josh) Giddey is going to be better. Chet already looks pretty damn good, even if the offense don't come around, the defense is there."

Beechum continued to say that after making the NBA Play-In tournament last season, he believes the Thunder can replicate their success and even add to it.

Miller's argument to Beechum was that Oklahoma City will likely be an improved team, but the strength of the Western Conference could prevent OKC from making a jump in the win column. With the Nuggets appearing poised for another strong season, the Suns adding Bradley Beal and the Warriors bringing in Chris Paul, the West will once again be a gauntlet, especially for a young team like the Thunder.

Even if Mark Daigneault's squad is unable to reach 45 wins, any improvement from last season and a higher seed in the postseason standings should be considered a solid year for Oklahoma City fans.

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