With LeBron James’ decision to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers, the entire landscape of the NBA has changed.
One way to look at the impact of a move of this magnitude is to see how drastically the odds have changed at the sportsbooks. The odds are a good indication of both how much money Vegas expects people to bet on a given team to win the NBA title and what oddsmakers expect to happen.
Here’s what the NBA Finals odds looked like before and after James signed for the Lakers.
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The numbers on the left had some liability baked in with the possibility of a few different teams getting the NBA’s best player. For instance, the Sixers were a little higher than they should have been because had James signed there, they would be favorites to win the title. Without James, the Sixers fall to 14/1 to take home the Larry O'Brien NBA trophy.
The Lakers jumped from 20/1 to win the title to 7/2, while, interestingly enough, the Warriors' odds to win the title actually got better with him joining perhaps the weakest team of his potential suitors. They clock in at 10/11 odds to repeat as champions.
The other end of the spectrum, the Cleveland Cavaliers dropped from 30/1 to win the title to 500/1.
NBA
Time will tell the impact of James' big decision, but there are also a lot of big-name players who have yet to find their new team as well, so the odds will continue to change as more news comes our way.
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