NBA Futures: Best Bet to Win NBA Western Conference (2020)
When the NBA season officially gets back underway later this week, things will be far from normal but the teams, players, and odds still look just about the exact same. As has been the tradition for the better half of a decade, the Western Conference is topped by a team in Los Angeles, however this time, there’s two.
Leading the odds to win the conference are the Los Angeles Lakers (+160), followed closely by the Clippers (+170). If it were up to me, those odds would be flipped given the depth of the Clips, but the LeBron factor at betting counters is still very real, and hence here we are.
Much further down the betting list in the West, however, is where I see the remaining value in the conference. Let’s take a closer look. You can view our consensus odds for the NBA Western Conference here.
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook
Best Bet to Win the 2020 NBA Western Conference
Oklahoma City Thunder +3500
Currently sitting just 2.5 games behind the third-seeded Nuggets in the Western Conference, the OKC Thunder have eight games to move their way up before the playoffs get started on August 17th. With their first three against teams currently ahead of them and their remaining five against the likes of Memphis, Washington, and Phoenix, the Thunder have a realistic shot of improving their seeding when it’s all said and done.
Even should they not, they are currently slated in a very favorable matchup in the first round against a Utah Jazz who have been affected (and infected) as anybody from the COVID-19 outbreak in the league due to the Rudy Gobert fiasco that got this whole mess started for the league.
When the COVID-related break started, no team in the league was hotter than the Thunder, who won eight of their last ten as they slowly began to creep up the Western Conference Standings.
Buoyed by their young backcourt of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort, veteran NBA All-Star Chris Paul was helping to get the most of a team that is starting to look like the future of the conference. With Dennis Schroder and former top-10 pick Nerlens Noel coming off the bench, the Thunder have the depth to compete in what’s shaping up to be, as always, a very crowded half of the NBA bracket in the West.
While the long layoff is certainly a concern for a team that looked to be getting its chemistry going for the first time when the league shut down, I think the veteran leadership of Paul and the strong force of Steven Adams in the locker room should be enough to sustain this team should they get off to a rocky few games.
Though I see it difficult for them to get by either of the Los Angeles teams, an appearance in the Western Conference finals at these long odds should create ample hedging opportunities at these odds, should they be able to get there.
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TJ Perun is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from TJ, check out his archive and follow him @JohnnyCovers.