Lakers Disrespected in NBA Championship Odds Ahead of Playoffs
The sportsbooks don't give the Los Angeles Lakers a chance to win it all this season.
By Cem Yolbulan
The Los Angeles Lakers are embarking on another postseason journey where they take on the Denver Nuggets. In the repeat of last season's Western Conference Finals, LeBron James & Co. will try to dethrone the reigning NBA champions. If they manage to take care of the Nuggets, their path to the NBA Finals becomes wide open.
However, oddsmakers don't seem to think so. FanDuel Sportsbook doesn't give the Lakers much of a chance to win the title as they have the tenth-best odds in the NBA to win the title. The +2800 odds that the Lakers are given have the implied odds of 3.45% to win it all. That might be too low.
Lakers Championship Odds
The Lakers are behind six Western Conference teams in best odds to win the title, including the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Phoenix Suns, who are playing each other in the first round, followed by the winner of the Nuggets-Lakers series in the second round.
If Los Angeles manages to pull off the upset against Denver, that means that they are playing extremely well, presumably making them favorites against the winner of the Wolves-Suns matchup.
Plus, the Lakers already showed that they are capable of making deep postseason runs with this current core. Just last year, they made the Conference Finals as the seventh seed. Yes, they have the toughest matchup in the first round, but it's not like they weren't competitive against the Nuggets last season, despite the sweep.
LeBron James is rested, playing well, and going up against a team he knows very well. This doesn't necessarily make the Lakers the favorites but being given this little chance to win the championship doesn't make too much sense.
NBA Finals Winner Odds
The Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets begin the playoffs as the clear title favorites in each conference. Whether any Western Conference team will be able to beat the Nuggets this time around remains to be seen but the Lakers should have as good of a shot as any to do so.
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Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.