LeBron’s long odds
Passes MJ but Finals run not gonna happen
LeBron James has passed Michael Jordan on the career scoring list, but the younger players on his team clearly do not have his back anymore. Rajon Rondo is sitting in courtside seats vacated by fans, getting stared down by the coaching staff, and Luke Walton is almost certainly going to lose his job one of these days.
So all is not well in Lakerland, where LeBron is almost certain to miss the playoffs and end his run of eight consecutive trips to the NBA Finals. This means that vineyard stocks are a good investment.
When your agent overplays his hand, as Rich Paul clearly did when he went all-in on getting Anthony Davis traded from the Pelicans exactly one month ago, there are consequences when the master plan fails.
The Lakers will be competing for a championship next season after Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and Jeanie Buss figure out who they will bring in to put another All-Star next to LeBron, but that won’t be happening until free agency begins on July 1, so Knicks fans and Lakers fans will have one thing in common this June: They will be closely watching the draft lottery.
As far as wagering goes, those who believe in miracles can still get the purple and gold to win the championship at 100-1.
For the more pragmatic readers, there are better odds out there for those who are not sold on the Golden State Warriors winning yet another NBA championship.
BetOnline.ag has the Portland Trail Blazers at 66-1 to win the title, and the Indiana Pacers are sitting at 125-1 with Knicks castoff Wes Matthews on their roster replacing Victor Oladipo. BetDSI.com has both the Blazers and the Pacers at 90-1, so you’ve got to shop around if you live in New York and you want to wager on the next NBA champion. (If you live in New Jersey, you can go through DraftKings, FanDuel, or pop into the Meadowlands or Monmouth Park or any of the Atlantic City casinos to wager at an actual window).
The Lakers are five games under .500, and the team currently sitting in eighth place – the Los Angeles Clippers, are eight games over .500. So unless the Clippers go into the tank in order to keep the Boston Celtics from getting their draft pick, they are going to be in a dogfight with the Sacramento Kings to finish in the top eight in the West.
Sacramento is four games behind the Clippers in the standings, and they will make their annual visit to New York on Sunday afternoon for a matinee against Zion Williamson’s next team (if the Knicks get lucky, which never seems to happen).
That matinee for the Kings will begin a four-game Eastern swing with stops in Washington, Philadelphia and Boston, followed by home games in Sacramento against Chicago and Brooklyn. The Kings will then play 11 of their final 12 games against Western Conference opponents.
The Clippers play their next six games at home – five against sure-thing playoff teams – then play four of their final 10 against Eastern Conference teams.
So the idea of Sacramento passing the Clippers is not a crazy one, and for those who like longshots, the Kings are 300-1 to win the title at BetOnline.ag and 100-1 at BetDSI.com. So again, shop around if you live in New York.
The Kings are 0-4 against Golden State this season, but the losses have been by 1, 5, 4 and 2 points. So while they do not have the wins against Golden State to prove they can defeat the Warriors, the evidence clearly shows they can compete with them.
In the East, the Milwaukee Bucks – despite getting beaten twice by the pitiful Phoenix Suns – are 6-1 to win the title at BetOnline.ag, and 9-1 at BetDSI.com. The Boston Celtics have dropped to 16-1 at both sites despite Gordon Hayward’s resurgence, and the Detroit Pistons – sixth in the East and winners of three straight after defeating Minnesota on Wednesday night – are sitting at 500-1 to win the championship at BetOnline.ag.