The San Antonio Spurs may have reloaded to a terrifying degree, but the Cleveland Cavaliers are on track to bring back all of their important pieces from last year’s Eastern Conference champions (pending Tristan Thompson and LeBron James’ contract negotiations), plus Mo Williams, who took two games from the Golden State Warriors despite missing two of their three best players in Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. Small wonder, then, that sports betting website Bovada lists the Cavs as the favorites to win the NBA title in 2016.
The Cavs are going off as 11/4 favorites, while the Spurs have the second-best odds at 3/1. The defending champion Warriors are third at 5/1, and if they’re looking for bulletin board material in early July for some reason, this might be as good as it’s going to get. Hey, Draymond Green’s gotta keep that edge somehow. Look at Bovada disrespecting you, Draymond!
The Charlotte Hornets, Orlando Magic and (of course) the Philadelphia 76ers are all tied for the worst odds at 250/1, which seems a little harsh on the Hornets, considering they made the playoffs in 2014. The Knicks are at 150/1, and the Lakers are somehow all the way up at 66/1, better than the Portland Trail Blazers at 75/1. I know that the Blazers got gutted, but man. That’s putting a lot of (relative) faith in a 36-year-old Kobe, Lou Williams, Roy Hibbert and Jahlil Okafor. Hell, I’d take Andrew Wiggins, Ricky Rubio, Karl-Anthony Towns and Kevin Garnett over that, and the Wolves are going off at 150/1.
(Via Bovada)