NBA Futures: Best Bet to Win NBA Championship (2020)
In what should be an exciting two months of action, the 2019-20 NBA season officially will resume this week as 23 teams have traveled to Orlando, FL to finish it off. Like the MLS, the NBA opted for a “bubble†style approach to prevent league-wide outbreaks of COVID-19, which at this point appears to be the absolutely correct decision.
When play gets underway, nine of those 23 teams will still be fighting for three remaining playoff spots, with two up grabs in the East, as well as two in the West.
With the playoffs officially slated to get started on August 17th, the odds have been set for nearly two months and have seen little movement at the top. Just as they were before the break, the Milwaukee Bucks (+240) are the odds on favorites, followed closely by the Los Angeles Lakers (+260) and the Los Angeles Clippers (+320).
In a setting where anything can happen from late scratches to entire teams being disqualified for outbreaks, the heavy favorites in this one entice me very little in terms of value. A look a little further down the list, however, is where I’ll be getting down action before the first tip.
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook. You can also check out our consensus odds to win the NBA Championship here.
Best Bet to Win the 2020 NBA Championship
Houston Rockets +1700
Very rarely, if ever, will you find a team with two recent MVP winners in their starting line up at nearly 20 to 1 odds on win a Championship, especially at this point in the season. Currently slotted for a 6th seed and the first-round encounter with the Nuggets, Houston has a very favorable eight regular-season games left to jockey for a higher position and avoid the other top three teams (LAL, LAC & DEN).
Prior to the break, the Rockets led all Western Conference teams in points per game (118.1) and trailed only the Bucks (118.6) league-wide. Additionally, James Harden was on pace for another ridiculous season, averaging 34.4 points per game to go along with 7.4 assists and trailed only Giannis Antetokounmpo in Player Efficiency Rating finishing with a 28.39.
In addition to Harden and former MVP Russell Westbrook, the Rocket’s acquisitions of Robert Convington and Jeff Green prior to the break bolsters a frontcourt who is all in on playing fast. Additionally, the pair shoot a collective 80% from the line, which should add to an already top-10 free throw percentage roster. With no fans in the stands, I expect the referees to see (and hear) more fouls than ever before and for free throw attempts to be way up over the next 10 weeks, on average.
Lastly, with Westbrook’s (hopefully only) COVID case now come and gone, that’s one less critical player for the Rockets that will likely not be lost in an environment where one key player’s extended absence could mean the end of their title run.
And doesn’t it just seem fitting for the title that has long eluded Harden and Westbrook to come during a season that will forever be earmarked, like this one?
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TJ Perun is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from TJ, check out his archive and follow him @JohnnyCovers.