LeBron James’ free agency decision will cause a seismic shift in power in the NBA, as whatever team the best player in the world plays for immediately becomes a contender.
While Las Vegas can’t offer odds on where James will sign, their 2018-19 title odds have hinted at where they expect him to land over recent months. This past week, the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook pulled title futures off the board in order to wait out James’ free agency decision (and possibly a Kawhi Leonard trade).
Offshore books, however, aren’t bound to the same regulations as books in Las Vegas. As such, they can offer odds on where James will sign. Over recent weeks, odds have slowly but surely shifted to where the Lakers have become prohibitive favorites to sign LeBron, but on Saturday at one such book the odds took a massive leap out to 50-1 (-5000), indicating they feel it’s a mortal lock LeBron ends up in L.A.
BREAKING: The Lakers are now -5000 favorites to sign LeBron James @betmybookie.
— Odds Shark (@OddsShark) June 30, 2018
Whether this is them simply reading the tea leaves or a matter of them feeling they have some inside information into LeBron’s decision, it’s a pretty dramatic shift in odds and a statement of confidence in where LeBron will suit up next season. Almost all of the buzz recently has been about James to L.A., from where he’s making his decision to him not planning on speaking with the Cavs in person before making his choice.
However, there’s always the opportunity he pulls a stunner on us all — as has been his M.O. in his two previous free agent summers — and ends up somewhere other than Southern California.
