For some reason, sportsbooks still think the Los Angeles Lakers are going to win the NBA Title. Not wanting to cross LeBron James is understandable, but let’s get serious already. We are basically halfway through the season and they have a 20-19 record. This is the 14th best team in the league.
That places the purple and gold behind the Washington Wizards and slightly ahead of the Charlotte Hornets and LA Clippers. Don’t tell that to sportsbooks who still think the Los Angeles Lakers are going to win the NBA Title.
Fanduel Sportsbook gives them the fifth best chance to win the championship. It is the same story over at BetMGM.188Bet puts the Lakers as sixth favorite. None of that makes any sense for a team that is heading for the play-in game again.
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LeBron and Anthony Davis are great players. But everything around them is the basketball equivalent of a turd sandwich. And it’s not like this is a small sample size. All of last season and halfway through 2021-22, Los Angeles has looked decidedly mediocre. They are closer to missing the postseason altogether than having home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
And yet, sportsbooks still think the Los Angeles Lakers are going to win the NBA Title.
This squad is worse than the doomed 2012-13 side. It is barely better than a Clippers team playing without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Hell, the Cleveland Cavaliers have surpassed the Lakers.
At this point, sportsbooks are just protecting a name more than anything else. Because nothing on the court justifies Los Angeles being among the favorites to take home the championship this season. It looks even worse than us betting on the Denver Nuggets to win it all.
