Sportsbooks adjust NBA odds after Giannis Antetokounmpo’s injury

There was no official word Wednesday morning on the injury status of Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who suffered a hyperextended left knee Tuesday in Milwaukee’s Game 4 loss at Atlanta.

But Las Vegas sportsbooks expect the two-time reigning league MVP to be sidelined for Thursday’s pivotal Game 5 and most likely the rest of the series, which is tied 2-2.

“I’d be surprised if he’s back in this series,” Westgate vice president of risk Jeff Sherman said. “It doesn’t look like something he’ll be able to overcome in a couple days.”

The books made a six-point adjustment to the spread based on Antetokounmpo’s expected absence. The Bucks are 2½-point home favorites in Game 5 after closing as 8½-point home favorites in Game 2.

“We opened it -3. The sharps took 3, and we went to 2½, so they obviously think he’s going to be out,” William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich said. “It’s really a guess. You throw it up there and move it off of money. But if you were assigning a point value to people, Giannis is worth about six points.

“Trae Young is probably worth about four or five points, too.”

Young, Atlanta’s star guard, missed Game 4 with a bone bruise in his foot. If he returns in Game 5 and Antetokounmpo is out, Sherman projects the line to move to Milwaukee -1 or pick’em.

The Bucks are still favorites to win the series, but the price has been slashed from -3,000 before Game 4 to -130 (Hawks +110).

“The series is now 2-2 with Giannis not being there and, at the same time, Young is expected to return at some point,” Sherman said. “The Bucks can do it. They’ve got (Khris) Middleton and (Jrue) Holiday and a couple other pieces, and they’ve got two of three chances at home. They’re definitely winnable games.”

Bogdanovich isn’t writing off Milwaukee’s chances to advance to the Finals without Antetokounmpo, either.

“Normally I’d say no. But I didn’t think Atlanta would win without Trae Young, either,” he said. “Stranger things have happened this postseason.”

The playoffs already were riddled with injuries to star players — including Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and Kyrie Irving — before Young and Antetokounmpo went down.

“When I updated the odds this morning on Twitter, I wrote NBA ‘Attrition’ Championship winner,” Sherman said. “I’ve never seen a compilation of injuries like this in all my years of making NBA odds.

“It opens it up now to a shell of a team winning the championship, not a traditional champion.”

Entering Wednesday, the Phoenix Suns are the -120 favorites to win the NBA title, followed by the Bucks (+325), Hawks (5-1) and Los Angeles Clippers (8-1).

Sherman marveled at the breaks the Suns have received in their playoff path, playing the Los Angeles Lakers without Davis, the Denver Nuggets without Murray and the Clippers without Leonard.

“That’s why we have them 20-1 to win next year. So many breaks went their way this season,” he said.

The Westgate took the 2022 NBA title odds off the board Wednesday while it awaited news on the extent of Antetokounmpo’s injury.

“If he’s out next year with a torn ACL, the Bucks will go from 10-1 to 100-1,” Sherman said.

William Hill took down its 2021 NBA title odds amid all the uncertainty with injuries.

“There’s no Young, no (Giannis), no Kawhi. It’s just a mess,” Bogdanovich said. “Just stay tuned. The next game will bring a different result and another injury. That’s how it’s been for the entire playoffs.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.