Brooklyn’s megadeal to acquire Houston superstar James Harden required adjustments to all the top contenders to win the NBA championship.
Basketball
The experts agree that Gonzaga is the top college basketball team in the country. Saturday could show how far the Bulldogs are ahead of the pack.
Westgate oddsmaker Ed Salmons said he has more than 30 teams ranked within five points of one another at the top of his power ratings as the season starts this week.
The Lakers are now the 3-1 favorites to win the title at the Westgate, followed by the Brooklyn Nets, who could have a big move to make.
Bettors and bookmakers will have to compete to keep up with news on about 350 Division I teams during the season that starts Nov. 25.
Sportsbooks have bumped up the price on the Lakers significantly from Game 1 with Heat starters Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo expected to be out.
There’s no Battle of Los Angeles in the Western Conference Finals. Instead, the Lakers are 7-point favorites in Game 1 against the Nuggets.
William Hill and BetMGM reported Denver money-line wagers of $500,000 or more that were decided in a wild final sequence Tuesday night.
Bets on Wednesday’s NBA, WNBA and MLB games that were called off to protest the shooting of a Black man by police will be refunded at most Las Vegas sportsbooks.
A better playoff path helped move Kawhi Leonard and Los Angeles ahead of the Lakers and Bucks in futures odds at the Westgate. The playoffs start Monday.
The Los Angeles Clippers didn’t beat the Los Angeles Lakers, but they covered as 4-point underdogs in the league’s return to action.
Four sportsbooks posted spreads and totals on the first three days of the NBA restart, and the Westgate put a line on the reported MLB opener.
The Westgate has odds posted on who the No. 1 pick will be in a year in which player evaluations have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The league’s odds did not shuffle after Friday’s draft, with Las Vegas still leading the pack, followed by the defending champion Washington Mystics.
The Gaming Control Board OK’d betting Thursday, but it was unclear whether sportsbooks would have wagers available before the draft begins Friday.