Oklahoma City Thunder vs Charlotte Hornets NBA Picks, Odds, Predictions 10/4/21

The Charlotte Hornets and Oklahoma City Thunder meet Monday in NBA preseason action at the Paycom Center. The Charlotte Hornets are looking for their first playoff trip since the 2015-16 season. The Oklahoma City Thunder won just 22 games last season and enter the second year under coach Mark Daigneault.

The Charlotte Hornets enter the fourth season under coach James Borrego and we’re starting to see a plan take shape. LaMelo Ball is proving to be a star in this league and Terry Rozier has developed into a solid shooting guard who can takeover for stretches. P.J. Washington and Miles Bridges form a nice tandem at power forward and the addition of Mason Plumlee gives them a legit big in the post. The Hornets also made one of the more underrated signings this offseason in Kelly Oubre Jr. However, the Hornets ceiling raises greatly if Gordon Hayward can finally get healthy, as he’s had trouble staying on the court each of the last four seasons. On paper, the Hornets are a playoff caliber team, but health and youth do raise some question marks.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have nowhere to go but up and a lot of their progress this season will come down to the growth of their young players. OKC will be counting on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to take all-star form, while Luguentz Dort, Aleksej Pokusevski and Darius Bazley strive to get better, three players who are 22 years old or younger. Isaiah Roby looked good in his first real season of playing time and rookie Josh Giddey will be given every chance to succeed. Derrick Favors and Mike Muscala are the only players on this Thunder roster who are over the age of 26 years old, which tells you where things are in Oklahoma at the moment. The Thunder are still in rebuilding mode and waiting for the right moment to make a big splash with some of their assets. Still, the Thunder have some intriguing young players who will be worth watching this season.

The Hornets are 1-6 ATS in their last 7 road games. The Thunder are 4-12 ATS in their last 16 home games and 8-21 ATS in their last 29 games overall. The under is 26-11 in Hornets last 37 overall. The over is 15-6 in Thunder last 21 home games. The Hornets are 7-17-1 ATS in the last 25 meetings.

The Charlotte Hornets are obviously the better team here and should be decent sized favorites. However, the Thunder are the sort of team I enjoy backing in the preseason, as there’s playing time on the table for everybody and it creates competition. The Thunder are loaded with youth and guys fighting for their NBA lives. You usually get decent preseason results out of teams like the Thunder.

Give me the Thunder at home and the expected points.