For the third-straight year, the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers squared off in the NBA Finals and with the Warriors taking the rubber match. Both Golden State and Cleveland are expected to duel in the Finals for a fourth consecutive time and are considered as heavy favorites to win it all again in this upcoming season. However, do the oddsmakers also agree to that assumption?
Let’s take a look below at the top five contenders bidding for the Larry O’Brien Trophy per the bookies’ eyes, as well as the complete listing of odds for every NBA team’s chances of winning the championship.
There’s no question that the Golden State Warriors are well-positioned to win not just their third NBA title in four years, but for many more years to come.
The Warriors aren’t afraid of paying well over the luxury tax for their roster over the next for seasons, especially considering the amazing core they’ve built. Former MVPs Kevin Durant and Steph Curry, obviously, make for the most prolific tandem of superstars in the league. But it’s also the likes of Klay Thompson and Draymond Green who made the Dubs such an unstoppable force and the current odds-on favorites in Vegas yet again.
There’s really no shake-up atop the East either, as the Cleveland Cavaliers are still expected to represent the conference next June as they aim for their second NBA title in three years.
For as long as LeBron James is healthy and on the team, Cleveland will always be in this lofty position. And with Kyrie Irving showing another level to his game during the Finals against the Warriors, it’s really hard to doubt that the Cavs will mirror their performance from last season to set up another date with Golden State.
Years of rebuilding and accumulating draft picks have come to this point for the Boston Celtics, who finally took a stab at a marquee free agent in Gordon Hayward this offseason and put themselves in great position to give the Cavaliers a run for their money in the East.
Hayward gives the Celtics – last season’s Eastern Conference champs – a new dimension on both sides of the ball; made all the more appealing by his reunion with his coach from college, Brad Stevens. Not only that, the C’s also made use of one of their valuable draft picks and nabbed a future superstar in Duke’s Jayson Tatum with the third-overall pick.
The Warriors’ two most formidable challengers in the West will hail from the Southwest Division, as the San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets are currently dead-even in terms of odds at becoming NBA champions next season.
The Spurs will bring their usual brand of consistency, with the coach-and-player tandem of Greg Popovich and Kawhi Leonard combining for two of the brightest basketball minds in the league. It also helps that the Spurs acquired Rudy Gay from free agency in preparation of Manu Ginobili’s retirement.
Meanwhile and like the Celtics, the Rockets landed a trade for a prized free agent in Chris Paul, who’s bound to enhance their already explosive offense. Whether or not Paul and James Harden can co-exist has yet to be seen. But as it stands, Houston’s roster has talent up to the brim that can basically match the other four main contenders covered here.
