NBA Championship Odds Update: Warriors Remain Clear Favorites
The Golden State Warriors are 16-9 straight up and 11-14 against the spread through their first 25 games after not picking up their ninth loss until their 42nd game last year. Despite their relatively slow start, the Warriors are still the clear favorite on the odds to win the NBA championship in 2019.
Golden State is a -150 favorite to win the NBA championship this season at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The Warriors opened their season on a 10-1 SU run before getting hit with the injury bug and falling into a 2-6 SU slump. Still, the odds haven't changed much because for a team this talented, the regular season feels like a formality.
And the Houston Rockets, who were expected to be Golden State's biggest threat this year, are off to an 11-12 SU start and have seen their odds to win the championship fall down to +1200.
None of the other teams currently enjoying success are seen as legitimate threats to take out the Warriors in a seven-game series. Even though they sit ahead of Golden State in the standings with more than a quarter of the season in the books, the Oklahoma City Thunder (+2200), Denver Nuggets (+5000) and Los Angeles Clippers (+7000) are all still big longshots.
And the LeBron James led Los Angeles Lakers aren't far apart from that group with +1800 odds to win the NBA title.
In the Eastern Conference, the Toronto Raptors (+800) have emerged as the conference's top team with a 20-5 SU record through the team's first 25 games. Kawhi Leonard has returned to form as one of the NBA's best players and has averaged 25.6 points and 8.5 rebounds per game for his new team.
The Milwaukee Bucks sit in second place in the Eastern Conference standings and have seen their odds to win the championship jump up to +2000.
And bettors that still believe that the Boston Celtics (+1100) or the Philadelphia 76ers (+1500) are good enough to win it. You can now get a good price on these two teams. The Celtics have stumbled out of the gate to a 13-10 SU and 10-13 ATS record, a far cry from last year's 16-2 SU start.
