2009-10 NBA Betting Outlook
The 2009-10 NBA season is finally upon us and if the sportsbooks are correct, basketball fans will be seeing a repeat of last year's NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Both teams are favored to win their respective conferences.There are plenty of betting opportunities at the start of the year, as bettors can wager on which teams will win the title or their division, bet on the MVP of the regular season, or wager on the number of wins each team will get during the regular season, among others.
NOTE: The NBA wagers are listed in money line format. If you're new to the world of sports betting, I would suggest reading Understanding Money Lines first, as the odds will be easier to understand.
In this article, we'll look at many of the different futures available and give a few opinions of which ones make sense from a betting perspective.
Odds to Win the 2009-10 NBA Championship
Atlanta Hawks +5000Boston Celtics +400
Charlotte Bobcats +10000
Chicago Bulls +7500
Cleveland Cavaliers +300
Dallas Mavericks +3000
Denver Nuggets +1500
Detroit Pistons +7500
Golden State Warriors +10000
Houston Rockets +5000
Indiana Pacers +10000
Los Angeles Clippers +10000
Los Angeles Lakers +180
Memphis Grizzlies +10000
Miami Heat +5000
Milwaukee Bucks +10000
Minnesota T-Wolves +10000
New Jersey Nets +10000
New Orleans Hornets +5000
New York Knicks +10000
Oklahoma City Thunder +10000
Orlando Magic +700
Philadelphia 76ers +7500
Phoenix Suns +7500
Portland Blazers +1500
Sacramento Kings +10000
San Antonio Spurs +700
Toronto Raptors +10000
Utah Jazz +3000
Washington Wizards +5000
Betting Notes
When looking at a list like this the first thing you can safely do is eliminate all of the teams at +5000 or better, as they have no realistic chance of winning the title. That will eliminate the majority of teams and leave you with the contenders.In the East, it looks as though there are three teams with a logical chance of advancing to the Finals-Cleveland, Boston and Orlando. When healthy, I like Boston out of the three, but keeping everybody on the floor could be a problem for a team advancing in age.
Still, Boston is worth a small play at the odds.
In the West, the Lakers are prohibitive favorites and rightly so. The team who may be able to knock off the defending champions is Portland, although the Blazers are probably another year away from making a serious run at the champs. But Portland is worth a small bet at those odds.
On the next page, we'll look at the win totals for each team.
