Los Angeles Clippers will be under projected Las Vegas win total

Prior to every professional sports season, Las Vegas releases a projected wins total for every team. For the Los Angeles Clippers, that bet is an easy under.

The Los Angeles Clippers are not receiving much love from Las Vegas, at least that feels if you are a fan of the team. The Clippers have already fallen second fiddle to the Los Angeles Lakers in LA due to the arrival of LeBron James. To make it even worse, nobody seems to expect anything out of the Clippers next season.

Manager of the Westgate Super Book in Las Vegas, Jeff Sherman, posted every NBA team’s win totals for next season.

While Las Vegas betting odds are not a concrete way to determine how a team is going to perform any given year, it does showcase the trend that the Clippers simply aren’t held in a high regard.

At 35.5, betting the under would mean that the Clippers would win no more than 35 games. Betting the over would obviously entail that the Clippers win more than 35 games next season.

The Los Angeles Clippers went 42-40 last season.

For most Clippers’ fans, betting the over likely seems like a clearcut winner. The team would not even have to go .500 to win the bet and would just need to come within five games of doing so.

However, this roster, mixed with a Western Conference that somehow got better, is going to make it extremely tough to win more than 35 games next season. So tough, in fact, that I would argue that betting the under is a near guarantee next season.

While the Clippers do have a good assortment of guys, the team is without DeAndre Jordan, who was a big component to the team’s limited success last season. While rookies Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson are promising, they will not be able to carry the load entirely in year one.

The Clippers have a nice assortment of guys that would be great role players on a contending team. Together, though, they make up the most middle of the road NBA roster possible.

Take that into consideration along with the Clippers’ competition in the West. Los Angeles will play every team in the Pacific Division four times. Between the Lakers and Warriors, there are seven losses.

Between the Kings and the Suns, the Clippers should win five of the eight games, making the team 6-10 overall in the division.

Every other team in the West are capable of beating the Clippers in two of three or three of four games. With some teams winning every game (like the Rockets) and others winning one or two, a safe estimate is that the Clippers go 12-24 against the rest of the Western Conference; giving the team an 18-34 overall record against the West.

This widely depends on which teams play the Clippers three times and which teams play four times. An 18-34 conference record is generous.

Thus, in 30 games against the Eastern Conference, the Clippers are going to have to win 18 games to get to 36 wins overall. That seems unattainable.

The Celtics, Raptors, 76ers, Pacers and Bucks should beat the Clippers in both games the two sides play. However, the Clippers likely won’t lose all these games and a 2-8 record against these teams seems very generous.

The Pistons, Heat, Wizards and Hornets are three teams the Clippers match up well against but still are not better than. In those eight games, the Clippers should walk away with three wins.

That leaves the Cavaliers, Knicks, Nets, Bulls, Magic and Hawks. A 9-3 record against these teams seems fair, with three of the teams getting a victory on its home court. That is a 14-16 record against the Eastern Conference, again, while being generous.

That puts the Los Angeles Clippers, by our estimations, at a total record of 32-50, coming four shy of the total that would have put the team over.