The Kawhi effect: Clippers, title favorites

[Dark]

For the first time in franchise history, the LA Clippers are favorites to win the NBA title.

With the acquisitions of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, Caesars Sportsbook moved the Clippers from 10-1 to 11-4 Saturday to win the 2019-20 NBA title, just ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers, who were in the race to sign Leonard, had been favorites of the 2020 consensus title since they acquired Anthony Davis to play alongside LeBron James. With Leonard off the table, the Lakers fell from 7-5 to 4-1 at the Caesars Sportsbook on Saturday morning.

The Milwaukee Bucks, 4-1, have the best odds in the Eastern Conference, followed by the Philadelphia 76ers with 7-1.

The Golden State Warriors are 10-1, followed by the Utah Jazz (14-1). The Houston Rockets are at 15-1, and the Brooklyn Nets are at 20-1.

Defending champion Toronto Raptors, with Leonard's fall, dropped 10-1 to 50-1 and after losing to George, the Oklahoma City Thunder saw their chances fall to 100-1.

Probabilities are varied from house to house. The bookmaker William Hill U.S. kept the Lakers as favorites at 3-1, with the Clippers at 7-2. The SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas had the Clippers as 3-1 favorites and extended the Lakers' odds to 6-1, behind the Bucks at 4-1.

In the last few weeks, big bets came to the Lakers in sports gaming houses in Las Vegas. The SuperBook reported betting $ 10,000 on the Lakers to win the title at 5-1 on June 15 and another bet on $ 10,000 at 7-4 on July 1. William Hill USA UU He reported that he had wagered $ 9,500 to the Lakers on June 5-1, and then a $ 10,000 to the Lakers on June 28.

Until Wednesday afternoon, 47 percent of the money that had been wagered on William Hill's odds of winning the 2020 NBA championship was in the Lakers. In Caesars, the Lakers had been betting almost five times more money than any other team.

For now, however, the Clippers are the favorites in most sports bookmakers. According to the sports betting archive Sportsoddshistory.com, it is the first time that they are title favorites since the franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1984.

As news of Clippers movements spread, Las Vegas sportsbooks eliminated the odds of winning the 2020 title and published them later on Saturday morning. DraftKings, FanDuel and PointsBet, of New Jersey, had the Clippers as favorites after the deal.

No major title bets were placed on the Clippers on Friday in Caesars or Westgate, sports betting representatives told ESPN.

"Since I was 16-1 (with the Clippers) a few days ago, we printed four tickets, $ 5, $ 10, $ 20 and $ 30," Jeff Sherman, vice president of risk for Westgate, said in a text message on Saturday morning.

Seven teams had attracted more bets than the Clippers before the news in William Hill, United States, including the New Orleans Pelicans.