Betting against King James? That's a gamble Las Vegas is willing to take.
Heading into the NBA Finals next week, the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook currently favors league MVP Stephen Curry and his Golden State Warriors with 5-12 odds to edge LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers (2-1 odds) for the championship. Do you agree?
While speaking to ESPN, Jeff Sherman – the head NBA oddsmaker for the SuperBook – explained that Westgate Las Vegas went through a whole process and played out the Finals game by game, before giving the series nod to the Warriors.
"We made the Warriors a six-point favorite in Game 1, then we took the next six games and played it out," Sherman told ESPN. "We take who would be the favorite in each game, by how many points and what the money line would be. We then put individual prices in and it calculates what the series price should be."
Perhaps what's more interesting – and predictable – is how quickly the Cavaliers' odds improved, along the process of James being rumored to return to Cleveland last summer to when he actually signed.
"We had them at 60-1, but as soon as the rumors started, we dropped it down to 20-1, and then when LeBron announced he was coming back, it was down to 5-2," Sherman added.
Well, LeBron is back in the Finals for the fifth straight time. Let's see if he can bring championship-starved Cleveland its first major sports title since 1964.
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