NBA Summer League Odds: Does Vegas Fortune Favor the Knicks?
A good number of doubters have followed the New York Knicks of the new century. Their young newcomers will get used to the treatment early on.
Odds for the NBA's upcoming Las Vegas Summer League action released by BetOnline.ag aren't friendly to the Knicks' prospects: at 40-1 and +4000, New York ranks in the bottom third of the league, which begins play in Sin City on Thursday. The Knicks are looking to build upon a run to last year's Summer League championship game, where they fell to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Courtesy BetOnline.ag
It's not hard to see why oddsmakers are pessimistic about the Knicks' odds: unlike most Summer League favorites, there are no high-profile draft picks about to make their debut, as the Knicks had no choices in last month's NBA Draft. Even their most prominent draft addition, Kentucky's Jacob Toppin, will not partake in Summer League action, as he's dealing with a minor injury.
Last year's runner-up effort was primarily sustained by the efforts of future starting lineup fixture Quentin Grimes, who ranked fifth in Summer League scoring (22.6 per game). The most prominent talent of the current group is likely fourth-year man Isaiah Roby, who has 151 games of NBA experience under his belt. Depth man DaQuan Jeffries and 2022 second-round pick Trevor Keels are the lone holdovers from last summer. New York opens its 2023 Summer League slate on Saturday late afternoon against the prospects of the Philadelphia 76ers (5 p.m. ET, MSG/NBA TV).
Portland (9-1) is among the favorites in the battle to protect their title, boasting the services of Scoot Henderson and Shadon Sharpe, each of whom were top 10 picks in the last two drafts. The Blazers also welcome in Iowa's Kris Murray with the 23rd pick last month, using a choice that the Knicks sent over in the trade deadline deal for Josh Hart. Oklahoma City is the favorite at 7-1 thanks primarily to the prescience of 2022's second overall pick Chet Holmgren.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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