New Pelicans vs. Thunder Prediction and Odds for November 13: How Do Injuries Affect Both Teams?

The New Orleans Pelicans (3-8) will travel to face the Oklahoma City Thunder (9-2) as two young Western Conference teams prepare to take center stage. 

The injury gods have not smiled upon the Pelicans, who are missing nearly their entire starting five and who suffered another long-term injury just this week. 

The Thunder are also down a key player, Chet Holmgren, who was lost during the team’s game against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday.

Here, we will analyze the odds and share our favorite Warriors Pelicans vs. Thunder betting picks.

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Pelicans vs. Thunder Betting Odds for Wednesday, November 13

New Orleans has the worst record against the spread of any team in the NBA at 2-9 (18.2 percent). They’re 1-5 (16.7 percent) ATS as an underdog and 0-5 ATS on the road.

OKC is 7-4 (62.6 percent) ATS and 604 (60 percent) ATS as the favorite, as well as 3-3 ATS (50 percent) at home.

The following odds are from BetMGM Sportsbook. Place your bets on the Pelicans vs Thunder game at BetMGM and claim up to $1,500 in bonus bets with our promo code WSNSPORTS.

Pelicans vs. Thunder Prediction

New Orleans Pelicans Preview

This has not been the start to the season the Pelicans players, coaches, and fans would have envisioned all offseason.

The team’s piling list of players affected by injuries includes… Zion Williamson, Dejounte Muray, CJ McCollum, Herbert Jones, Jordan Hawkins, and Jose Alavarado. That’s six players in a usual nine-or-10-man rotation that are unavailable for action.

Brandon Ingram and Trey Murphy III are the only surviving members of the team’s usual mainstays, though Murphy III also just returned from an injury and only logged one game, putting up 12 points and five rebounds in a loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Monday.

The Pelicans rank 22nd in offensive and 29th in defensive rating, neither of which are encouraging looking at their long-term aspirations. They’re also 18th in assist-to-turnover ratio, 24th in rebound rate, and 24th in opponents’ made threes per game.

The only glimmer of hope here is that the Pels are 12th in three-point percentage. Despite their injuries, three of the four players with the highest three-point percentage on the team (Javonte Green, Jeremiah Robinson-Early, and Jaylen Nowell) are available and saw serious action in their last game.

It’s both difficult and unfair to form any overarching conclusions about this team given that their best players have hardly shared the court with one another. That said, they have not performed well (as evidenced by their record) and are up against the 8-ball due to the injuries.

Ingram also has not been able to run the show as a solo act without his star teammates, averaging 23.3 points, 5.8 assists, and 5.5 rebounds on 45.2 percent shooting (28.9 percent from three) across six games in November.

Oklahoma City Thunder Preview

The Thunder got back into the win column with a 134-128 victory against the Los Angeles Clippers their last time on the court. They’re just 2-2 in their last four games after they got out to a 7-0 start, and are learning to play a new style due to them not having any available centers. 

The Thunder’s tallest starter in their last game was their 6-foot-6 point guard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 6-foot-9 forward Ousmane Dieng was the tallest reserve to see action, and he was only on the court for nine minutes.

The bounds of “positionless basketball” are being put to the test here—not out of desire, but necessity.

The Thunder weren’t a strong rebounding team even before the injury to Holmgren, and they lost the battle of the boards 47-29 against the Clippers. They now rank 29th in rebound rate for the year as a whole.

On a more positive note, OKC has the best defensive rating in the NBA by a wide margin and is ninth in offensive rating. They hold teams to 42.6 percent shooting from the field and 34.9 percent from three, which rank first and 11th among all teams.

Gilgeous-Alexander had a humble start to the season but erupted for a career-high 45 points on 13/21 shooting to go with nine assists his last time out. Jalen Williams carried the slack as the second scorer with 28 points, while the team made 18 total threes on 39.1 percent shooting.

The Thunder are outstanding defensively and play with relentless energy on offense, creating mismatches and forcing the issue with their constant drives and off-ball screens. They have a serious hole due to their lack of interior size but apply enormous amounts of pressure to opponents regardless. 

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Pelicans vs. Thunder Betting Pick

• Pelicans vs. Thunder pick: Pelicans +14.5 (-110) at BetMGM

The matchup that is about to unfold looks nothing as it did on paper during the offseason when both teams were fully healthy.

The Pelicans might not have impressed at all, but they have plenty of size. OKC, meanwhile, is set in its system and suffocates teams with its defense, but now, it can’t clear the defensive glass or earn many second-chance opportunities. 

It’s surprising to see the line set at this wide of a margin given the Thunder’s total inability to compete on the glass. Granted, they had a similar issue last year, but Holmgren’s absence also takes away their rim protection and doesn’t force opposing big men to spend as much time outside of the paint, which is a positive for the underdogs.

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How to Watch Pelicans vs. Thunder on 11/13/24

• When: Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 6:30/7:30 p.m. CT/ET

• Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK

• TV: ESPN

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