Chris Boucher has Caught Vegas' Attention as the Raptors Title Odds Have Fallen

Chris Boucher has certainly caught the attention of Vegas sportsbooks this season, but his team, the Toronto Raptors, well, Vegas has fallen out of favour with them.

When the season tipped off in December the Raptors were considered among the Eastern Conference frontrunners to make the NBA Finals and potentially win the championship. They opened the season at 7-to-1 (+700) to come out of the East and 15-to-1 (+1500) to win the Finals.

That, however, didn't last very long.

A 2-8 start to the season tanked Toronto's odds to as low as 33-to-1 (+3,300) to win the East and 70-to-1 (+7,000) to win the Finals this season, according to Covers and PointBet NBA. Though they have rebounded to 20-to-1 (+2,000) and 60-to-1 (+6,000), respectively, bettors aren't particularly keen on Toronto this season. The Raptors rank 23rd in the NBA in the number of bets placed on them to win the championship this season and 16th in the league in the amount of money placed on them to win it all, PointsBet USA’s Wyatt Yearout said.

In the East, the Raptors have the sixth-best odds to come out of the conference, following the Brooklyn Nets (+120), Milwaukee Bucks (+300), Philadelphia 76ers (+500), and the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat (+1,200).

If anyone is going to finish the 2020-21 season with some hardware, bettors think it might be the Raptors' Sixth Man of the Year candidate Boucher. The 28-year-old Boucher started the season as a longshot to win the award but has jolted all the way up to third in the NBA with 14-to-1 odds (+1,400) to take home the honour.

Boucher's season certainly warrants a lot of consideration. He's averaging 13.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.9 blocks per game this season on 53.4% shooting and ridiculous 44.5% 3-point shooting. He's become one of the league's best roll men in pick-and-roll plays and he's an elite pick-and-pop big man so far this year.

Chris Boucher is in the 73.6th percentile for scoring as the roll man in pick-and-roll plays this season. He's averaging 1.22 points per possession as the roll man this year. He's flanked in the standings by some pretty, pretty, pretttaay good players, I'd say. pic.twitter.com/64tUpDm84K
— 𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 (@AaronBenRose) March 9, 2021

The problem for Boucher will be Houston's Eric Gordon and more likely Utah's Jordan Clarkson who are 9-to-1 (+900) and 1-to-4 (-400) favourites to win the award, per Covers.

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