NBA Odds & Betting

While they remain the title favorites, oddsmakers are doubting the Golden State Warriors a little more in the wake of Kevin Durant's injury in the second round of the 2019 NBA playoffs. 

ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Durant has a mild right calf strain and will be re-evaluated in a week. As a result, he's out for the remainder of the Western Conference Finals.

According to the Caesars sportsbook, the Warriors are now +120 (bet $100 to win $120) to win their third straight NBA Finals. They were -130 heading into Game 5.

Warriors move to +120 with KD out for the rest of the Rockets series

Bucks now +200, Rockets +425 https://t.co/5ThX6TdByO

— br_betting (@br_betting) May 9, 2019

In the third quarter against the Houston Rockets, Durant suffered a non-contact injury to his right leg. The team announced the initial diagnosis was a right calf strain.

Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes reported Durant would undergo an MRI on Thursday to determine the full extent of his injury. The Athletic's Tim Kawakami spoke with Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who didn't waste time ruling Durant out for the team's next game.

"He's not going to play Game 6," Kerr said. "We can all pretend and just say he's doubtful. But he's not playing Game 6."

That oddsmakers still favor the Warriors despite the questions over Durant's health is a testament to their overall strength. Only Golden State could lose one of the NBA's best players and remain the top championship threat.

Don't know the severity of KD's right calf injury but that was a huge gut-check win for GSW. Reigning champs were tested in a major way but got rescued by the foundation of this dynastic run - Steph, Klay & Dray. Lights won't go out at Oracle Arena just yet.

— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) May 9, 2019

One silver lining of Durant's injury is that the Warriors may return to the more egalitarian offensive style that turned them into a budding dynasty before the 10-time All-Star arrived.

According to Basketball Reference, Durant has a 32.8 percent usage rate this postseason. Stephen Curry (26.0 percent) is second on the team in usage rate. Those positions were reversed in the regular season as Curry's 30.4 percent usage rate led the team and Durant came in second at 29.0 percent.

Without the safety valve Durant has provided as a scorer, the trio of Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson will all have to pick up the slack. Nobody should bet against those three once again leading the Warriors a title.

Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and the rest of the Golden State Warriors are the prohibitive favorite to capture the 2019 NBA championship with the playoffs set to begin Saturday. 

Here's a look at the updated betting lines for all 16 teams released Friday, which show the Dubs at -200 odds (bet $200 to win $100) followed by the Milwaukee Bucks (+450), Houston Rockets (+500) and Toronto Raptors (+1,000):

Who’s your pick to win it all?🏆 pic.twitter.com/kErzKGc4NZ

— br_betting (@br_betting) April 12, 2019

The Bucks own home-court advantage throughout the NBA postseason after posting a league-best 60-22 record to earn the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Their mark was two games better than the Raptors and three ahead of the Western Conference-leading Warriors.

Golden State is the NBA's two-time defending champion and features perhaps the most star-studded roster the league has ever seen with a starting lineup of Curry, Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and DeMarcus Cousins, not to mention sixth man Andre Iguodala.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle he picked his spots for criticism carefully during the regular season so the All-Star-laden roster will know he's serious if he challenges them in a certain area during the playoffs.

"For certain games, certain stretches, it's important for me to figure out, 'Do I accept this for now or do I challenge them?'" he said. "I think you have to pace your team accordingly—to understand when to give them space without giving them an excuse, and when to push their buttons a little bit. ... I've been much more lenient this year, trying to guide us through the rocky road."

Meanwhile, Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo told Bill DiFilippo of Dime Magazine in February the team was still learning how to become a legitimate title contender.

"It's just the opposite, teams are trying to take us down," he said. "At the end of the day, we have to achieve our goals. Yes, do we have to change our mentality? We do. Our goal is to win the championship and play at a championship level."

The oddsmakers have installed the Warriors as the clear favorite and FiveThirtyEight agrees, listing the Dubs at 59 percent to win a third consecutive championship. The Raptors (17 percent) and Bucks (15 percent) are a distant second and third.

Not every analysis system is all aboard the Golden State bandwagon, though. ESPN's Basketball Power Index projects Milwaukee as the team to beat (35.4 percent title odds) ahead of Golden State (20.7 percent) and Toronto (16.9 percent) heading into the postseason.

The playoffs kick off Saturday with four games beginning with the Brooklyn Nets visiting the Philadelphia 76ers at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

It's officially a two-man race for NBA MVP but, according to oddsmakers, calling it a "race" may be overstating it. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo is currently listed as a -300 favorite (bet $300 to win $100) to win the award at Caesars, with James Harden coming in well behind at +225.

The debate surrounding the 2019 MVP has become an ideological one that has divided both fans and the NBA alike. 

Antetokounmpo, 24, would be only the 11th player in NBA history to win the MVP before his 25th birthday. He's averaging 27.4 points, 12.6 rebounds and 6.0 assists on 58.2 percent shooting while leading the Bucks to an NBA-best 55-19 record.

Milwaukee has an eight-game advantage on Houston in the standings, and Antetokounmpo has been a generational force on both ends of the floor. At this moment, he has an extremely strong argument to be the best player in the entire league. 

"He's leading us to first place right now. He's doing everything for us," Bucks teammate Khris Middleton told reporters. "When you look at his numbers, you look at our team, you look at how we're winning and everything, I think he's the clear candidate right now.

"I think LeBron is the best player in the world, as far as overall in his career and what he's doing for this league on and off the court. But I think Giannis is headed in that direction."

Harden, meanwhile, singlehandedly saved the Rockets' season while putting up one of the best scoring campaigns in NBA history. His 36.4 points per game are the seventh-highest total in NBA history and best since Michael Jordan in 1986-87, and he's pushed Houston to the No. 3 seed in the West despite a rash of injuries across the roster and a complete lack of roster depth.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore. There's nothing to talk about. If anybody has any damn sense, James Harden will be crowned a two-time league MVP when this season's over," ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith said on First Take this week.

The polarizing nature of the race has made it fascinating. However, if the odds shake out it seems the voters won't have any "sense," per Stephen A., and will vote Giannis. 

In what isn't a surprising development, Zion Williamson is opening as the heavy favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA draft in the eyes of one oddsmaker. 

According to ESPN.com's Ben Fawkes, DraftKings listed Williamson at -2000 (bet $2000 to win $100) to go first overall, with Duke Blue Devils teammate RJ Barrett the second-favorite at +550 (bet $100 to win $550).

Zion coming for that top spot 😤 pic.twitter.com/MBWY3kMCoa

— br_betting (@br_betting) February 18, 2019

In his most recent mock draft, Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman projected Williamson to be the No. 1 pick, with Barrett at No. 3. Murray State star Ja Morant was No. 2 in Wasserman's mock and is +650 to come off the board first in the 2019 draft.

Assuming he forgoes his final three years of eligibility at Duke, Williamson is far and away the best player in this year's draft class. Wasserman argued in January that he might also be one of best college players to hit the NBA ranks over the last 10 years.

He's averaging 22.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.9 blocks through 25 games with the Blue Devils. He's also flashing some range. A .292 three-point percentage isn't good but at least shows Williamson is attempting to expand his offensive repertoire.

The Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers all have the best odds of landing the No. 1 pick (14 percent), with the Chicago Bulls (12.5 percent) and Atlanta Hawks (10.5 percent) right behind, per Tankathon.

Williamson is so good that his fit should be irrelevant. The team that wins the draft lottery will select him and figure out the rest later.

The Golden State Warriors have the best record in the Western Conference (31-14), have scored over 140 points in their three of their past four games, won three of the past four NBA titles and are adding center DeMarcus Cousins to the mix on Friday. 

So not surprisingly, they remain the prohibitive favorites to win the NBA title this season, per Bovada (via B/R Betting):

Who would you put money on? 🏆 pic.twitter.com/5F3yHlGNv3

— br_betting (@br_betting) January 17, 2019

It's hard to pick against a team boasting five former All-NBA players and two former MVPs. But a number of teams present an interesting case nonetheless.

The Toronto Raptors have two stars in Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry and one of the best supporting casts in the NBA. Toronto's depth and Leonard's ability to take over games makes them the favorites in the Eastern Conference.

Several teams will test them, however. On paper, the Boston Celtics have the most talent in the conference, though the team is still working out the kinks. Still, Boston is loaded with Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, among others, to go along with excellent defense and head coach Brad Stevens. 

They'll likely be a team to be reckoned with in the postseason.

Don't count out Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, either. Mike Budenholzer's system perfectly complements the Greek Freak's style of play, though the team does lack a true second superstar. That could hurt them come the postseason. 

The Philadelphia 76ers are still figuring out the dynamic between Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Jimmy Butler, but few teams can boast a top three that talented. Most playoff teams have far better quality depth than the Sixers too, a factor they'll need to address. 

And don't sleep on the Indiana Pacers, who may lack the star power of their Eastern Conference rivals but have the depth and defense to be a nuisance come the playoffs.

Out West, the Houston Rockets have re-emerged as a threat to the Warriors, largely due to James Harden playing out of his mind over the past 20 games. The Rockets aren't as deep are defensively stout as a season ago, but Harden makes them a threat.

Ditto for LeBron James in Los Angeles. The young core around him is probably too green to make an NBA Finals run or hang with the Warriors, but any team with James will make some noise in the postseason.

Finally, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets are worth monitoring. The Thunder have star power in Russell Westbrook (even if his 22.8 percent shooting from three is astoundingly bad) and Paul George (who is playing like a legitimate MVP candidate) and play stifling defense. The Nuggets, meanwhile, have an MVP candidate of their own in Nikola Jokic and play beautiful offensive basketball. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo is having another fantastic season for the surging Milwaukee Bucks, who currently have the best winning percentage (.722) in the NBA. So it's hardly surprising that he tops the latest MVP odds list, coming in at +160 (bet $100 to win $160) to win the award, per OddsShark. 

Hot on his heels are three-time MVP LeBron James (+500), Anthony Davis (+600), defending MVP James Harden (+600), Kawhi Leonard (+750) and two-time MVP Steph Curry (+750).

Meanwhile, Joel Embiid (+1000), one-time MVP Kevin Durant (+1600), Paul George (+2500), Nikola Jokic (+3300), one-time MVP Russell Westbrook (+3300), Damian Lillard (+5000) and Kyrie Irving (+6600) round out the other best bets as the 2018-19 NBA season approaches its halfway point.

The 26-year-old Antetokounmpo is stuffing the stat sheet while the Bucks (26-10) continue piling up wins. He's currently 10th in scoring (26.3 PPG), sixth in rebounding (12.6 RPG), 19th in assists (6.1 APG) and 13th in blocks (1.5 BPG) this season, all while shooting 58.6 percent from the field (10th in the NBA).

He's the only player who is currently top-10 in both scoring and field-goal percentage.

But James, 33, can make a case of his own. He's currently tied for fifth in scoring (27.3 PPG), 27th in rebounding (8.3 RPG) and 12th in assists (7.1 APG). He's also transformed a Lakers team that missed the playoffs a season ago into a postseason contender:

The Lakers were a 35-win team last year without LeBron and they are a 35-win team this year without LeBron and a 50-win team with him.

This is honestly the best MVP argument you can make for him and it’s a really good one.

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) January 3, 2019

After those two, a number of players make a strong case.

Anthony Davis leads the league in minutes (37.3 MPG), is tied for second in scoring (28.7 PPG), is fourth in rebounding (13.4 RPG ) and second in blocks (2.6 BPG). Harden leads the league in scoring (33.3 PPG) by a significant margin and leads all players with 152 made threes.

Leonard has led the Raptors to the most wins in the NBA (28-11), is fifth in scoring (27.3 PPG) and continues to play his elite brand of defense. Curry is tied for second in scoring with Davis, second in made threes (133) and seventh in three-point percentage (45.2 percent). And Embiid has been a beast for the Process Sixers, sitting at seventh in scoring (26.9 PPG), third in rebounding (13.6 RPG) and tied for seventh in blocks (1.8 BPG).

Players who have scored 30+ pts in first half of a game this season:

Curry
Thompson
Embiid

Players to do it more than once this season:

Joel Embiid

— Jon Johnson (@jonjohnsonwip) January 3, 2019

Suffice to say, it's a stacked group of contenders at the moment. Antetokounmpo is the early leader in the clubhouse for MVP, but it's a race that remains very much up for grabs.