Lakers' NBA Final Odds Skyrocket After Sweep of Rockets, 7th Win in a Row

Don't look now, but the Los Angeles Lakers are staking a serious claim as contenders in the Western Conference.

Los Angeles has a 1.5-game cushion on the No. 3 seed in the West after knocking off the Houston Rockets in back-to-back games on Monday and Wednesday, extending their winning streak to seven games in the process.

As a result, the Lakers are moving up in the odds to win the NBA Finals this season, passing the Rockets and tying the Minnesota Timberwolves in the latest odds at DraftKings Sportsbook. Los Angeles is eighth in the odds to win the Finals at +4000 while Houston has fallen to +5000. L.A. is still a bit behind the Detroit Pistons (+2000), who are seventh, but the recent surge for L.A. is not a fluke.

The Lakers now control the tiebreaker over Houston (2-1 against it this season), Denver (2-1 against it this season) and Minnesota (3-0 against it this season). That puts Los Angeles in a great position to avoid Oklahoma City Thunder (the current No. 1 seed) in a potential second-round matchup in the NBA Playoffs.

The surge for the Lakers has come in several areas, but the key has been the team's improved defense.

L.A. is just 20th in the league in defensive rating for the entire 2025-26 season, but it has jumped to eighth in that metric over its last 10 games. The Lakers have held Houston, New York and Minnesota all to 106 or fewer points during this 10-game stretch.

So, should bettors buy into the Lakers as true title contenders down the home stretch of the regular season?

Since the 1996-97 season, every team that went on to win the NBA Finals finished in the top eight in net rating during the regular season. The Lakers, who surged to 15th earlier this week, are now 14th in the league at +1.2. There's still some work to go for the Lakers to get into the top eight, but their recent play suggests they can get there.

Over their last 15 games, the Lakers are sixth in the NBA in net rating (+6.9), and they've seen their starting lineup jump into a positive net rating as well. The Lakers' five-man lineup with Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton is now +8.4 points per 100 possessions in 136 minutes this season.

Injuries have limited the time that all five players have spent on the court, but it's certainly interesting that the Lakers' recent surge has come with James, Reaves and Doncic mostly in the lineup. James missed three of the last 15 games for L.A., but it is still 11-4 overall during that stretch.

The best argument for the Lakers is to look at Doncic's recent history as a No. 1 option on a contending team. The six-time All-Star is firmly in the MVP conversation this season, averaging 33.0 points, 7.9 rebounds and 8.5 assists per game, and he's shootin 41.6 percent from 3 since the All-Star break.

Doncic took a Dallas team to the NBA Finals just two seasons ago, and he reached the Western Conference Finals a few seasons before that. The Lakers may have even more talent than the Dallas team that made the 2024 NBA Finals, especially if James and Reaves are both healthy.

There is a clear floor with a Doncic-led team, and if the Lakers' defense remains on an upward trajectory, it's hard not to take them seriously as a threat to dethrone OKC in the West. At +4000, the Lakers are just outside the range of some of the top contenders in the latest Finals odds, making them an intriguing bet if you believe their current play will continue over the next month.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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Find Peter Dewey's NBA betting record here (futures included). You can also follow my daily plays on BetStamp here.

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