Las Vegas sportsbook offers 1-1,000 odds on Warriors making playoffs
Think the Golden State Warriors are a lock to make the NBA playoffs? A Las Vegas sportsbook is willing to take that bet -- at 1-1,000 odds.
To win $100 on the Warriors making the playoffs, a bettor has to put up $100,000 at the Westgate SuperBook. On the flip side, odds are 100-1 that Golden State does not make the playoffs, so a $100 bet would pay $10,100 if the Warriors didn't make the postseason.
Good luck with that.
"The Warriors have the highest price we have ever placed on a favorite to make the playoffs," Westgate assistant manager Jeff Sherman told ESPN on Tuesday.
The Warriors won 67 games last season en route to their second NBA championship in three years. They are odds-on favorites at -220 to repeat as champions and are 1-500 to win the Pacific Division.
Golden State's win total was sitting at 67.5 at the Westgate, which on Tuesday became the first sportsbook in Nevada to open betting on the season-win totals and odds to the make the playoffs for every team.
The Warriors are projected to win 11 more games in the regular season than the next closest team, which, somewhat surprisingly, is not the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Boston Celtics' season win total opened at 56.5 at the Westgate, three more than the Cavaliers (53.5).
The two Eastern Conference favorites are attempting to finalize a blockbuster trade, featuring Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving going to Boston for guard Isaiah Thomas, forwards Jae Crowder and Ante Zizic, and a first-round pick.
Concerns over Thomas' injured hip are still being addressed, but oddsmakers at the Westgate made the win totals for the Celtics and Cavaliers in anticipation of the trade being completed.
Sherman, the Westgate's chief NBA oddsmaker, favors the Celtics to win more games than the Cavaliers in the regular season, but Cleveland remains the favorite at -150 to win the Eastern Conference. Boston is 2-1 to win the Eastern Conference.
"It was evident last year the Cavaliers did not emphasize home-court advantage in the playoffs," Sherman said. "[I] expect them to limit some players minutes this season."
The Houston Rockets opened with the second-highest win total, behind the Warriors in the Western Conference, at 55.5, followed by the San Antonio Spurs (54.5) and the Oklahoma City Thunder (51.5).
The Philadelphia 76ers saw the biggest improvement in their projected win total from last season to this year. The 76ers' win total opened at 24.5 last season and 43.5 this year.
The Chicago Bulls opened with the lowest season-win total at 21.5. That's 19 less wins than they were projected to win last season.
The Los Angeles Lakers' win total opened at 33.5, their highest since the 2013-14 campaign. The Lakers are +550 underdogs to make the playoffs in the rugged Western Conference, though. But there are believers.
Out of the first 101 bets on the Lakers' playoff odds at the Westgate, Sherman said 100 were on "Yes."
