It's been 5 weeks since we last took a look at NBA championship odds. Last date we pulled the Sportsbook odds for the championship was December 5th. This data pull uses the Sports Odds API and pulls data from major bookmakers like PointsBet, DraftKings, FanDuel, BetRiver, Caesars, etc. The graphic below shows the teams and their implied odds of winning it all.
Since December 5th here are the things I've noticed:
Boston and Denver are still 1 and 2, but Boston has pulled a way to be the favorite.
The Clippers jumped to number 3 over all. In December they were 6th overall but only about an 8% implied odds of winning it all.
Vegas thinks four teams are head and shoulders above the rest, with the Bucks rounding out the top four.
Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers have slipped.
Oklahoma City Thunder are inching up in chance to win it all.
The table below shows all teams in descending order of implied odds, the Boston Celtics are at the top, with implied odds of victory at 26.4, correlated with a price of 3.79. The Celtics are the favorites in the eyes of bookmakers at this point in the season. The Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks follow, with implied odds of 19.6, but their prices differ at 5.1 and 6.3, respectively, indicating a variation in perceived chances of winning.
Further down the list, the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns round out the top five, albeit with significantly lower implied odds compared to the leaders.
Towards the bottom of the list, we see teams like the Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors, Memphis Grizzlies, Charlotte Hornets, San Antonio Spurs, and Detroit Pistons presenting odds of essentially 0. The definition of longshots. Correspondingly, their prices soar above 900, peaking with the Pistons at a whopping 1251.00, a bet on them would be ... highly speculative.
Full List of Team Odds and Prices
This table illustrates the inverse relationship between a team's likelihood of success (implied odds) and the potential financial return on bets placed on them (price). It highlights the risk-reward balance that bettors must consider: lower odds offer smaller payouts for safer bets, while higher odds promise larger rewards for bets that are much less likely to pay off.