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The Las Vegas sports books have released updated NBA title odds, and the Toronto Raptors are currently +1200 to hoist the Gold Ball... ahem, Larry O’Brien trophy as NBA Champions in June.
As you would expect, Vegas has the Golden State Warriors as the overwhelming favourites to win the NBA title once again: The Warriors are -200. Coming in as the second best bet, you’ll find the owners of the best record in the league, the Milwaukee Bucks, at +500.
Joining the Raptors with the same +1200 odds are the Houston Rockets, which isn’t surprising since they’ve got the most unstoppable scoring machine in the NBA, and... the Boston Celtics!? That is somewhat surprising; I can’t imagine anything the Celtics have done this season could inspire that much confidence, so I’ll just assume Vegas oddsmakers are as confident in Kyrie Irving’s postseason potential as I am terrified of it.
All in all, this should give Raptors fans some confidence. Their title odds have remained consistent throughout the entire season; they opened the regular season at +1100. Meanwhile it’s only in the last two months that the Bucks’ odds have surpassed Toronto’s, as their consistent domination of the entire league finally caused Vegas to acknowledge that yeah, they might be for real. The Raptors, on paper, have never had a better team and the Raptors, in the eyes of those shadowy Vegas insiders, have never had a better chance to win it all.
Should You Bet on the Raptors?
What’s all this mean, anyway? Well the -200 for the Warriors means Vegas thinks this outcome is extremely likely; you have to wager $200 to win $100. For the Raptors, the math is more in your favour: if you wager $100 on the Raptors, and they win it all, you’ll get your $100 back and $1,200.
Now, as I’ve stated before, I’m not a gambler, and I’m not going to condone gambling. But if I were to give advice... those odds seem really good from a gambling standpoint! I definitely think the Raptors have better chance than Houston or Boston to win it all, and I’d put them and the Bucks on much more even ground. That $100 wager on the Raptors (to win $1,200) looks much more attractive to me than anything else out there!
The Raptors tip-off their title run tomorrow, at home, against the Orlando Magic.