After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Western Conference · tip-off October 20

Oklahoma City Thunder

Our win estimate next to the market's, the last three seasons, who came and went, and the rotation we expect.

Our estimate

63 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 58 to 68 wins.

The market

63.9 wins

Where the Kalshi yes price for "wins or more" crosses 50%.

Last season

64-18

2025-26 · net rating +10.9 (1st in the NBA)

Our estimate and the market are within 0.4 wins of each other.

Treat the gap as a flag, not a verdict. In backtests on 2024-25 and 2025-26 (60 team-seasons) this kind of estimate missed a team's win total by 8.3 wins on average. Last season's wins pulled toward 41 missed by 9.0. Ratings built from games alone said 52 wins for this team.

Two ways to count wins

Our range against the market

The blue bar is the middle 80% of our simulated seasons. The orange line is the market's win total.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 63.9 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 63, middle 80%: 58 to 68 Market 63.9

Where we think they finish in the West

Top 6: 100% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 0% Outside the top 10: 0%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
2599¢ 100¢ 100¢ 100%
3095¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
3595¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
4094¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
4591¢ 100¢ 96¢ 100%
5085¢ 98¢ 92¢ 100%
5576¢ 83¢ 80¢ 99%
6064¢ 67¢ 66¢ 83%
6545¢ 46¢ 46¢ 36%
709¢ 17¢ 13¢ 4%

A strike with no bid is treated as unpriced. The market win total is a straight line between the two strikes that straddle 50%.

What the scoreboard said

The last three regular seasons

Ratings are points per 100 possessions. Possessions are estimated from box scores, so treat them as close, not exact. Ranks are out of 30.

2025-26 · 64-18 (1st in wins)

Points per game
119.05th
Allowed per game
107.92nd
Offensive rating
116.86th
Defensive rating
105.81st
Net rating
+10.91st

2024-25 · 68-14 (1st in wins)

Points per game
120.54th
Allowed per game
107.63rd
Offensive rating
118.13rd
Defensive rating
105.51st
Net rating
+12.61st

2023-24 · 57-25 (2nd in wins)

Points per game
120.13rd
Allowed per game
112.711th
Offensive rating
117.53rd
Defensive rating
110.34th
Net rating
+7.32nd

Our preseason ratings

Offense
+1.306th
Defense
-3.332nd
Net, games only
+4.621st
Roster value
+7.89

Offense, defense and net are points per game against an average team, fitted on every completed game before tip-off (defense: lower is better). Roster value is the on-court net per 48 minutes of the players on the roster list, weighted by minutes.

Who came and who left

Offseason moves

Built from the DraftKings roster list and 2025-26 box scores. Players who left had at least 500 regular-season minutes here last season.

In (5)

5 moredepth and rookies
  • Aday MaraRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Bennett StirtzRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Josh DixRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Otega OwehRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Thomas SorberRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (3)

  • Luguentz Dortnow with ATL
    26.8 min, 8.3 pts a game
  • Isaiah Joenow with DET
    21.2 min, 11.1 pts a game
  • Aaron Wigginsnow with ATL
    21.8 min, 9.4 pts a game

The rotation we expect

Top eight by projected minutes

Minutes come from our NBA engine: today's rosters, the depth chart, each team held to 240 minutes, and each player's chance of playing. Open a player for three seasons of per-game lines and shooting.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander G · age 28 · 32.0 projected min 2025-26: 68 g, 31.1 pts, 4.3 reb, 6.6 ast

2025-26 · OKC

68games
33.3min
31.1pts
4.3reb
FG55.3%731/1321
3P38.6%115/298
FT87.9%540/614

6.6 assists a game

2024-25 · OKC

76games
34.2min
32.7pts
5.0reb
FG51.9%860/1656
3P37.5%163/435
FT89.8%601/669

6.4 assists a game

2023-24 · OKC

75games
34.1min
30.1pts
5.5reb
FG53.5%796/1487
3P35.3%95/269
FT87.4%567/649

6.2 assists a game

Chet Holmgren F · age 24 · 27.8 projected min 2025-26: 69 g, 17.1 pts, 8.9 reb, 1.7 ast

2025-26 · OKC

69games
29.0min
17.1pts
8.9reb
FG55.7%434/779
3P36.2%88/243
FT79.2%225/284

1.7 assists a game

2024-25 · OKC

32games
27.4min
15.0pts
8.0reb
FG49.0%167/341
3P37.9%44/116
FT75.4%101/134

2.0 assists a game

2023-24 · OKC

82games
29.4min
16.5pts
7.9reb
FG53.0%505/953
3P37.0%129/349
FT79.3%218/275

2.4 assists a game

Jalen Williams F · age 25 · 26.8 projected min 2025-26: 33 g, 17.1 pts, 4.6 reb, 5.5 ast

2025-26 · OKC

33games
28.4min
17.1pts
4.6reb
FG48.4%216/446
3P29.9%23/77
FT83.7%108/129

5.5 assists a game

2024-25 · OKC

69games
32.4min
21.6pts
5.3reb
FG48.4%565/1168
3P36.5%124/340
FT78.9%236/299

5.1 assists a game

2023-24 · OKC

71games
31.4min
19.1pts
4.0reb
FG54.0%536/993
3P42.7%103/241
FT81.4%180/221

4.5 assists a game

Cason Wallace G · age 22 · 20.8 projected min 2025-26: 77 g, 8.6 pts, 3.1 reb, 2.6 ast

2025-26 · OKC

77games
26.6min
8.6pts
3.1reb
FG43.2%252/584
3P35.1%101/288
FT80.9%55/68

2.6 assists a game

2024-25 · OKC

68games
27.6min
8.4pts
3.4reb
FG47.4%232/489
3P35.6%74/208
FT81.1%30/37

2.5 assists a game

2023-24 · OKC

82games
20.7min
6.8pts
2.3reb
FG49.1%217/442
3P41.9%98/234
FT78.4%29/37

1.5 assists a game

Ajay Mitchell G · age 24 · 19.2 projected min 2025-26: 57 g, 13.6 pts, 3.3 reb, 3.6 ast

2025-26 · OKC

57games
25.8min
13.6pts
3.3reb
FG48.5%286/590
3P34.7%61/176
FT87.0%141/162

3.6 assists a game

2024-25 · OKC

36games
16.6min
6.5pts
1.9reb
FG49.5%91/184
3P38.3%23/60
FT82.9%29/35

1.8 assists a game

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Alex Caruso G · age 32 · 18.6 projected min 2025-26: 56 g, 6.2 pts, 2.8 reb, 2.0 ast

2025-26 · OKC

56games
18.2min
6.2pts
2.8reb
FG42.3%127/300
3P29.3%53/181
FT80.4%41/51

2.0 assists a game

2024-25 · OKC

54games
19.7min
7.1pts
3.0reb
FG44.2%140/317
3P34.9%60/172
FT83.0%44/53

2.5 assists a game

2023-24 · CHI

71games
28.7min
10.1pts
3.8reb
FG46.8%253/541
3P40.8%136/333
FT76.0%73/96

3.5 assists a game

Jared McCain G · age 22 · 18.3 projected min 2025-26: 67 g, 8.3 pts, 2.0 reb, 1.3 ast

2025-26 · OKC/PHI

67games
17.4min
8.3pts
2.0reb
FG42.5%204/480
3P38.5%99/257
FT86.4%51/59

1.3 assists a game

2024-25 · PHI

23games
25.8min
15.3pts
2.4reb
FG46.0%126/274
3P38.3%51/133
FT87.5%49/56

2.6 assists a game

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Isaiah Hartenstein C · age 28 · 18.1 projected min 2025-26: 47 g, 9.2 pts, 9.4 reb, 3.5 ast

2025-26 · OKC

47games
24.3min
9.2pts
9.4reb
FG62.2%184/296
3P0.0%0/7
FT61.0%64/105

3.5 assists a game

2024-25 · OKC

57games
27.9min
11.2pts
10.7reb
FG58.1%279/480
3P0.0%0/19
FT67.5%79/117

3.8 assists a game

2023-24 · NY

75games
25.3min
7.8pts
8.3reb
FG64.4%235/365
3P33.3%1/3
FT70.7%111/157

2.5 assists a game

How to read this

Method and limits

How our estimate is built
  • Our estimate starts from the roster. Each player's on-court net points per 48 minutes (from his most recent full season, pulled toward zero when the sample is small) is averaged by minutes across the roster list, then turned into wins at about 2.9 wins per point of net.
  • That win total is then pushed through the real 2026-27 schedule 20,000 times, using a home win probability for every game, to get the range and the playoff and play-in odds.
  • Ratings built from games alone (6,153 games before October 20) are kept as a comparison. They fade old games over the offseason, which pulls every team toward average.
  • The market number is the wins where Kalshi's "wins or more" price crosses 50%, read off a straight line between strikes five wins apart.
What the estimate does not know
  • Possessions are an estimate from box totals, not tracked possessions.
  • The season simulation uses each game's win probability from the ratings and nothing else: no rating uncertainty, injuries, trades after the cutoff or in-season rating updates, so the 10th-90th percentile band is narrower than a real season's spread.
  • The 2026-27 schedule file lists 1200 games (80 per team on average) rather than 1230. Each team's missing games ([2] per team) are played against an average opponent at a neutral site with no rest terms.
  • Projection method: (d) roster values. In the walk-forward study its hold-out MAE was 8.3 wins (n = 60 team-seasons) against 9.0 for last season's wins regressed toward 41. Typical error is still about 8 wins per team, so treat every number as a wide estimate.
  • Roster values use each player's box-score plus-minus, which is not adjusted for teammates. Players with no box-score history count as average at 10 minutes a game.
  • Ties in the seeding are broken at random; head-to-head and division rules are not applied.
  • Every team has a usable market median.
  • Market median uses the midpoint of the yes bid and ask for each strike and a straight line between the two strikes (5 wins apart) that straddle 0.5; a strike with no bid is treated as unpriced.
  • Rosters are the DraftKings Best Ball player list for draft group 150564, kept only where the player is on his team's current ESPN roster (ESPN team rosters, 2026-10-19): released and departed players are out. Players DraftKings lists as Out are not in the engine's pool, so they have no projected minutes and are not in the top 8; each team's moves block names them.
  • Projected minutes are the engine's per-player estimates from box scores through 2026-04-12; they are not scaled to the team's 240 minutes and do not model new teammates.
  • Box scores start in 2021-22; a player with no box score on file is marked as a rookie or new, which can include veterans returning from abroad. Ages come from the ESPN player directory (2025-26 file) and are missing for players it does not list.
  • This team has 2 games the schedule file does not list yet; they are treated as games against an average opponent.

Data built Oct 19, 2026. Estimates are ours and can be wrong.