The NBA's second season gets underway on May 18 with the Play-In Round of the 2021 playoffs. Teams finishing seventh to tenth in each conference's final regular season standings will play one another in a round robin format over the course of four consecutive days. The top two teams as far as winning percentage will advance to the conference quarterfinals as the seventh and eight seed.
While the added postseason round offers sports bettors an extra opportunity to cash a few winning game bets, none of those eight teams have a legitimate chance to win their respective conference title. The NBA is a league of elite superstars that dictate which teams can win a title and which teams are only along for the ride.
When Kevin Durant switched coasts to play in New York, the Brooklyn Nets suddenly became one of those teams. He was joined by Kyrie Irving and later James Harden to cement the Nets' status as the most talented team in the Eastern Conference.
The Philadelphia 76ers are led by Joel Embiid and the Milwaukee Bucks have Giannis Antetokounmpo as their elite superstar. However, neither team is projected to get past Brooklyn in the conference finals.
Wherever LeBron James has played, his teams have won championships. The addition of Anthony Davis made the Los Angeles Lakers the favorites to win last year's NBA title and the duo came through by meeting those expectations.
The defense of that title has not gone as expected with the Lakers tied for sixth place in the Western Conference standings. Any further slip would put the defending champs in the Play-In Round.
Yet, the updated NBA Championship betting futures still have the Lakers as the second team on the board at +400 odds behind Brooklyn as a +200 favorite to win it all.
One of the wild cards on this list is the Los Angeles Clippers as +600 third favorites. After losing to the Denver Nuggets in last year's conference semifinals, they are still trying to prove that they are the best team in LA.
The fourth team on the board is the Utah Jazz at +700. The Jazz have the best record in the league (48-18) heading into the final few games of the regular season.
Milwaukee (+900) and Philadelphia (+1100) are next followed by the Phoenix Suns at +1200. The betting odds balloon to +2500 for Denver. Boston, Dallas and Miami are set as +4000 longshots.
Utah as the top seed does have a chance to win a conference title if you are looking for the best value in the West. The Jazz have been the most consistent NBA team all season long.
Philly would be my "best bet" pick in the East as the No. 1 seed. The Sixers would greatly benefit from home court advantage in any series they played. They are 25-7 at home verse a 20-14 record on the road.
That being said, going chalk on the Nets to win this season's NBA Championship might make the most betting sense. That much star power gathered on one team has been a proven formula for success going back to the days when the Big Three propelled Miami to a few world titles.
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