Celtics trade for Kyrie Irving does not move NBA title odds
The blockbuster trade in which the Boston Celtics acquired Kyrie Irving from the Cleveland Cavaliers had absolutely no effect on the teams’ odds at the Westgate sports book to win the 2018 NBA title.
Before the trade was reported Tuesday by ESPN, the odds on Cleveland to win the title were 4-1 and Boston was 10-1. After the trade, the odds stayed the same.
Likewise, the Cavaliers remained the 4-7 favorite to win the Eastern Conference and the Celtics stayed put as the 5-2 second choice.
In return for Irving, Cleveland received Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and Brooklyn’s 2018 unprotected first-round draft pick.
“We didn’t feel compelled to do anything. Right now, it’s just a swap that doesn’t do much to change this upcoming season,” Westgate sports book manager Jeff Sherman said. “It looks like Cleveland is still the favorite in the East. No team is in the class of Golden State anyway.”
The Warriors are minus-220 favorites to repeat as NBA champions next season and the Spurs are the 8-1 third choice, sandwiched between the Cavaliers and Celtics.
“I still think Cleveland, right now, is higher power-rated than Boston. I don’t think anything’s changed out of this,” Sherman said. “Irving and Thomas had similar statistics last year. Just swapping teams doesn’t do much for either team.”
The deal did impact the 2017-18 NBA Most Valuable Player odds.
“Taking Irving out of there, everything will be centered on LeBron (James) in Cleveland so we lowered him from 6-1 to 5-1,” Sherman said. “We lowered Irving from 50-1 down to 25-1 because we think he’ll be the focal point of Boston and everything will run through him.
“And Isaiah will be second or third fiddle on Cleveland now. He doesn’t have a chance (to win MVP) so we bumped him up from 30-1 to 100-1.”
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Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
