Heading into the 2013-14 NBA season, oddsmakers see the campaign ending the same way it has for the past two years: With LeBron James and the Miami Heat celebrating another NBA championship.
LeBron and company are listed as the 21/10 favourites to win a third consecutive NBA crown with the Heat set to get their season underway on Tuesday night at home against the Chicago Bulls.
The Heat are also the 6/5 favourites on the odds to win the East, and they’re huge –10,000 chalk on the Southeast Division odds.
So who is going to challenge the Heat for the title this season? Possibly their Tuesday opponent, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The Bulls, who will have Derrick Rose finally back in the lineup this season, are second on the NBA futures at 11/2 to claim the title after rolling through the pre-season unbeaten at 8-0.
Chicago is also second at 11/4 odds to win the East title, after they managed to go 45-37 without Rose last season.
What about the Toronto Raptors? They would be a huge payout at 150/1, but they face a huge uphill battle just to make the playoffs, according to Mark Presley of OddsShark.com.
Indiana (9/1), Brooklyn (10/1), and New York (25/1) are the next Eastern teams on the NBA title futures for the top-heavy conference, while the Oklahoma City Thunder sit third at 17/2 to claim the crown this season.
The Thunder, tied with the Los Angeles Clippers at 7/2 on the odd to win the West at the sportsbooks, will have to make do without Russell Westbrook (knee surgery) for the first month of the season.
The Clippers are at 9/1 on the NBA title odds, with the Houston Rockets (who now feature Dwight Howard) at 12/1, the San Antonio Spurs (who lost in the NBA Finals to the Heat last season) at 14/1, and the Golden State Warriors at 16/1. The Los Angeles Lakers are back at 40/1 as they hope for healthy years from Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash. The Lakers ended up seventh in the Western Conference standings last year.
The sportsbooks are also offering up many NBA prop bets at the start of the season, with Kevin Durant the 27/20 favourite over Carmelo Anthony (3/1) and James (7/2) on the odds to win the scoring title. Durant won the scoring title three years in a row from 2009 to 2012, but Anthony edged him for the crown last year. James won it in 2007-08.
Howard is the 5/4 favourite to win the rebounding title for the third straight season and sixth time in seven years, with Chris Paul the 3/2 favourite to win the assists title. James is the heavy 3/2 favourite to pick up another league MVP award this year, putting him ahead of Durant (4/1), Rose (11/2), and Anthony (10/1) on that props list.
See odds to win each division, each conference and NBA basketball future odds.
