Golden State and Cleveland have met in the last three NBA Finals with the Warriors holding a 2-1 edge. BetOnline has recently updated its NBA futures to win this year’s world title and everything still points to Round 4 between these two powers.
It has been an exciting run so far in the NBA and, coming off the recent All-Star break, Toronto holds the top spot in the Eastern Conference with Houston holding the slight edge out West. When it comes to BetOnline’s updated futures odds to win the 2018 NBA Championship, some very familiar teams remain at the top of the list.
2018 Eastern Conference Favorites
The big question in the East heading into the final few months of the regular season is can anyone knock Cleveland from its three-year perch as the top team when the playoffs roll around. There is reason to believe that the gap between the Cavaliers and the rest of this conference’s top contenders has narrowed, but the betting numbers hardly bear this out.
Following a complete shakeup of its entire roster right before the NBA trade deadline earlier this month, Cleveland is still a +500 third-favorite to win this year’s championship. The next best odds for any other team in the East is Toronto at +1200. Quite a few bettors were hot on Boston earlier this season, but the enthusiasm has waned with the Celtics’ +1600 odds to win it all.
Next on the list in this conference is Milwaukee and Washington at +6600 odds followed by Philadelphia at +8000 odds.
Right now, the Raptors appear to be in the best position to give Cleveland the most trouble coming out of the East, but it is hard to find the value in any of these teams when it comes to getting past the best the West has to offer in a best-of-seven championship series.
2018 Western Conference Favorites
Golden State’s recent 4-4 swoon in its last eight games has opened the door for Houston to take the slim lead in the West at 44-13. The Rockets come off the All-Star break with a 10-game winning streak, but the gap between the top two teams in the conference when it comes to the updated futures odds still remains wide.
The Warriors are -240 favorites to win the West and -160 favorites to win their third world title in four seasons. Losing a handful of games in the regular season is hardly a reason for panic, but you still have to question the value in both of these odds from a risk/reward standpoint.
Houston has already proven that it is more than capable of going toe-to-toe with Golden State when James Harden and Co. are hitting their three-point shots. So much so, that the value in the Rockets’ +275 odds to win the conference and their +450 odds to win this season’s world title is the best on the board. That is not to say that Houston will get past Golden State at some point in the postseason, it only implies that the gap in these odds is much wider than the gap in each team’s talent on the court.
The betting odds to win the 2018 NBA Championship drop like a rock for the rest of this conference starting with Oklahoma City at +2800 followed by San Antonio at +3300. The Thunder are still a one-man show in Russell Westbrook and the Spurs appear to be a team in serious decline.
One team out West that could make some noise in the playoffs is Minnesota at +5000 odds to win it all. The Timberwolves could still be one or two players away from legitimately competing with the likes of Golden State and Houston, but they remain a team to watch.
The Utah Jazz could join that up-and-coming list with an 11-game winning streak coming off the break to bring their championship odds down to +8000.
Here are the 2017 NBA Championship Odds provided by BetOnline as of 10/17/2017.
- Golden State Warriors -175
- Houston Rockets +400
- Cleveland Cavaliers +600
- Boston Celtics +1200
- Toronto Raptors +1600
- Oklahoma City Thunder +1600
- San Antonio Spurs +3300
- Minnesota Timberwolves +6600
- Washington Wizards +6600
- Milwaukee Bucks +6600
- Philadelphia 76ers +7500
- Miami Heat +15000
- Miami Heat +15000
- Detroit Pistons +15000
- Indiana Pacers +20000
- Utah Jazz +25000
- Denver Nuggets +25000
- Portland Trail Blazers +30000
- Los Angeles Clippers +50000
- New Orleans Pelicans +50000
- Charlotte Hornets +50000