Best Bet for NBA Champion: Can Anyone Dethrone the Lakers?
The NBA’s exhibition games begin on Friday, December 11, with the regular-season slate tipping off on the 22nd with the Golden State Warriors at Brooklyn Nets and the L.A. Clippers vs. the L.A. Lakers. A powerful and exciting slate on TNT is just the welcome back we needed, and five games on Christmas will follow it up.
The NBA is coming back dramatically after a short layoff, and you’re running out of time for your futures bets! Here are three teams I like to win the NBA Finals. Two are my favorite to make it out of their respective conferences, while the third is a longshot that fits a league trend.
On BettingPros futures consensus, you can see the best lines on these teams and any others. In this article, all lines are available on DraftKings.
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Los Angeles Lakers +275
If you’ve been betting LeBron James to miss the NBA Finals over the last decade, you haven’t made much money. Heading into 2021, I’m not convinced the Lakers won’t at least make the Finals in back-to-back seasons. Anthony Davis returns for another run at Defensive Player of the Year (and potentially MVP) alongside James. If James wins MVP, he’ll be the oldest winner in history at 36, passing Karl Malone’s record of 35.
The Lakers recorded the Western Conference’s best regular-season record (52-19) and the league’s postseason record (16-5) last season in their first championship since 2010. Davis and James combined for 51.4 points, 17.1 rebounds, and 13.4 assists, with both players averaging 34 minutes per game. James led the league in assists with 10.2, the first time he’s ever done that in his career.
Luckily, the Lakers have added more players than they’ve lost in the offseason. Laker Nation said goodbye to Danny Green, Dwight Howard, and Javale McGee and welcomed in two of the top three Sixth Man of the Year Candidates in Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell. They also added Marc Gasol, Wesley Matthews, and retained Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. That’s one hell of a haul for the reigning champs.
L.A. will have a target on their back, but they’ve improved since last season. In a short, weird season with COVID still impacting scheduling and travel, I expect the Lakers’ talent to overshadow most opponents alone. They’re the best bet to win the NBA Finals, and if you’re doing an exact matchup, they are my No. 1 pick out of the West with the devastating Klay Thompson injury to the Warriors.
Brooklyn Nets +600
If you thought the Warriors or LeBron’s Cavs and Lakers had insane media coverage, just wait on the Nets once 2021 gets rolling. Kyrie Irving is already making comments on how Kevin Durant is the only player he’s ever trusted with the final shot, and yes, that’s counting LeBron. He’s adding fuel to the fire for the NBA Finals we all want to see.
The Durant and Irving duo is going to be a nightly show, and the team is deep. Brooklyn retained Spencer Dinwiddie, Caris LeVert, Joe Harris, Taurean Prince, DeAndre Jordan, and Jarrett Allen. That’s a winning rotation, especially if we’re talking about an eight-man mix that includes Irving and Durant. The last time Durant took the floor was with the Warriors in an NBA Finals loss to Toronto Raptors. In his third and final season with Golden State, Durant averaged a career-high 5.9 assists and grabbed 6.4 rebounds in addition to 26.0 points per game — his 12th-straight season above 20 points per game.
Durant has shot above 50% in seven-straight seasons, and Irving posted 47.8% from the field in 20 games with the Nets, his sixth season with a rate of 46% or better. They will be a lethal duo, and on most nights, they’ll combine for 50 points. Irving also posted his highest assist total (6.4) last season next to his final year with Boston (6.9). Along with Dinwiddie and LeVert, the four of them will be fun to watch all year. They make a ferocious foursome that’ll be feared most nights with Allen and Jordan cleaning up the glass.
The Nets finished 2019-20 second in rebounds per game (47.9), sixth in points in the paint (49.6), and eighth in second-chance points (13.6). The Nets will bring back a core group that added to most of their success last season. Adding a healthy Irving and Durant for, hopefully, at least 2/3 of the season makes them sound like a top-three team in the East, if not No. 1.
Philadelphia 76ers +2400
What an interesting offseason, and it’s not over for the 76ers. James Harden is on their radar after acquiring former Rockets GM Darryl Morey, but he probably won’t land in Philly. A trade would absolutely require Ben Simmons or Joel Embiid. At this rate, the 76ers should be unwilling to make that deal.
Philly added Danny Green and Dwight Howard from the Lakers, Terrence Ferguson from the Thunder, Seth Curry from the Mavericks, and Tony Bradley from the Jazz. Those are five viable players that can play significant minutes off the bench or as possible spot starters. Curry or Green could earn themselves a spot in the starting lineup depending on what Philly does with Simmons, as they can use him at point guard or point forward. The 76ers also traded Al Horford, and the city celebrated, as the Embiid-Horford experiment had to stop immediately.
All five of the 76ers’ additions played playoff minutes in the bubble, and I think that plays into my affection f0r this team — as well as the Doc Rivers hiring. The 76ers could play into the trend of first-year head coaches making deep postseason runs. We’ve witnessed David Blatt and Tyron Lue each do it Cleveland, Steve Kerr with Golden State, Nick Nurse with Toronto, and Frank Voegel with the Lakers. Is Doc Rivers the latest? It’s possible.
I won’t say the 76ers are favorites, and I’d rank them behind Brooklyn, Milwaukee, and Boston, but anything can happen in a seven-game series. Philly was a dominant homecourt team last season, posting the league’s best record of 31-4. That said, they were an abysmal 12-26 on the road. I expect that to be a point of emphasis in 2020-21 with Rivers and figuring out the Embiid-Simmons dynamic in the offense. Here’s a hot take: the 76ers make the NBA Finals within the next two years, and if they don’t, Simmons and/or Embiid won’t be there.
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Vaughn Dalzell is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Vaughn, check out his archive or follow him @VaughnDalzell.