Lakers Have Second-Best NBA Title Odds After Signing LeBron James

The Highlights

• The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook released 2018-19 NBA title odds shortly after LeBron James announced he was signing with the Los Angeles Lakers.
• The Lakers have moved from +2000 to +350 and could move even higher if they're able to trade for Kawhi Leonard.
• The other big mover is the Boston Celtics, now +350 with LeBron headed west.

Just one month ago, the Los Angeles Lakers were +2000 to win the NBA title — still inflated odds for a team coming off a 35-47 campaign. Jeff Sherman of the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook posted odds shortly after LeBron James announced his signing, and the Lakers had moved to +350.

Here are the odds for title-relevant teams this upcoming season and where they were on June 18 and June 2:

If you want to bet the Lakers to win the title, you're not getting favorable odds considering LeBron's fame and the Lakers' status as a public team. But those odds get even worse if the Lakers are able to pull off a trade with the San Antonio Spurs, pairing LeBron with 2014 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard. Those +350 odds will be long gone in that case.

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The other team on the rise after the third "Decision" is the Boston Celtics, who have gone from +800 to +350 over the past month. They'll presumably be massive favorites to come out of the East after making it to the Eastern Conference Finals without their two best players, Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.

Interestingly, the Philadelphia 76ers went from +350 on June 2 to +1400 tonight. They were reportedly a serious contender in the LeBron sweepstakes — and they could still trade for Leonard — which means their odds were likely inflated a month ago.

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