Warriors Have Historic Odds for 2016-17 NBA Championship
Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob was right all along. The Warriors are indeed “light-years ahead” – at least in terms of the 2016-2017 NBA championship odds.
The Warriors are currently massive -175 favorites to win the title per TopBet sportsbook. That means someone who wants to bet on the Warriors would have to wager $175 in order to win $100. The Cleveland Cavaliers are the Warriors’ closest title competitors according to the odds. They are priced at +300 to successfully defend their championship.
As David Purdum of ESPN mentions in his report, the Michael Jordan-led 1997-1998 Bulls and the LeBron James-led Miami Heat had comparably low odds in past years, but neither was as overwhelmingly favored as the Warriors currently are. Veterans in the sports betting industry don’t even remember a team in any sport being as big a favorite ahead of the season.
The Warriors opened as +175 title favorites even after squandering a 3-1 lead to the Cavs in last year’s Finals. However, the shock addition of superstar Kevin Durant in free agency substantially shifted their odds. Durant, the 2014 NBA MVP, averaged 28 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists last season for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who lost to the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.
Durant joins an already star-studded team that broke the 1995-96 Bulls’ all-time regular season wins record with 73 wins. He will take the place of Harrison Barnes, who went to Dallas in free agency along with Andrew Bogut, in the Warriors’ “Death Lineup” alongside two-time reigning MVP Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala.
It’s highly unlikely the Warriors once again go all out in the regular season after last season’s experience. They are still expected to win a lot of games, though. Their over/under regular season wins is set at 66.0, the highest in the NBA.
Willing to wager on the Warriors’ historic title odds? Create a betting account now and stand to cash in on these championship favorites.
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