OKC Thunder rank eighth among contenders for NBA Title
Opening odds for the 16 playoff squads finds the OKC Thunder ranking in the middle with the eighth best odds to win the 2018-19 NBA Championship title.
As soon as the season wrapped up and the playoff ladders were completed with teams cemented into their spots Vegas jumped on updating the odds of each team to win the NBA title. The OKC Thunder finished the season with the longest winning streak (five games) but this came on the heels of a 6-13 run. That fact probably didn’t help the OKC Thunder.
I did think the perfect symmetry of the Rockets losing to fall to fourth combined with the Blazers winning to move up into third might equate to a variance in the odds. But the oddsmakers still view the Rockets as the West’s best bet to topple the Warriors.
Of the teams who reside in the opposite half of the bracket than the Warriors, the Nuggets ranked the closes in seventh with the Thunder just behind in eighth.
In fact, four of the five teams listed with the best shot of taking down the Warriors reside in the East. The Bucks, Raptors ranked second and third while the Celtics, and 76ers tied for the fifth best shot at the title.
Not surprisingly many of the lower seeded teams ranked at the bottom although the Spurs ranking (tied with the Pacers in 11th) was somewhat surprising.
Odds Shark offers each teams odds of winning the 2018-19 NBA Championship as follows:
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Golden State Warriors are listed with as an overwhelming favorite at -225 or 69.2 percent probability of winning.
Milwaukee Bucks rank second at +650 or 6.5 to 1 odds
Toronto Raptors open at +950 (9.5 to 1)
Houston Rockets open at +1100 (11 to 1)
Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers both open at +1600 (16 to 1) odds
Denver Nuggets open at +1800 (18 to 1)
OKC Thunder open at +3500 (35 to 1) ranking eighth among the 16 teams
Portland Trail Blazers open at +4000 (40 to 1)
Utah Jazz open at +6000 (60 to 1)
Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs both open at +8000 (80 to 1)
Orlando Magic open at +10000 (100 to 1)
Brooklyn Nets open at +12500 (125 to 1)
Detroit Pistons and Los Angeles Clippers have the worst odds at +15000 (150 to 1)
*Odds are pulled from Odds Shark listing as of April 11th, 2019
Next. Playoff ladders complete, Thunder cement sixth seed. dark
As we get closer to tipoff team odds will shift just like they will following game one with the winners generally experiencing improved odds.