Early Season Look at NBA Futures

This article will be contrarian to what you normally read regarding a Future prediction as we aren’t going to give you teams to bet on, but instead, teams to avoid in your betting strategies. It’s early in the NBA season but some things have become all-to-clear in our eyes and we’ll go on record with the following speculations.

NBA TEAMS “NOT” TO PUT ON YOUR FUTURES TICKET

Los Angeles Lakers +550

We had our thoughts on this Lakers team going into the season but wanted to see the team’s chemistry in the first few games before coming to this conclusion. The Lakers won’t play in the Finals this season and will not have the opportunity to win it all in 2022. This team had the best overall defensive efficiency numbers in the NBA a year ago allowing just 1.071-Points Per Possession. The offense was another matter ranking 24th in terms of Offensive Efficiency. LeBron forced the Lakers hand in the offseason and rebuilt this aging roster to his liking and it doesn’t look good. How have the Lakers gotten better offensively or defensively? Russell Westbrook is a triple-threat machine when he dominates the basketball but that doesn’t fit the Lakers style and LeBron. Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Rajon Rondo are well past their prime and not the complimentary pieces James and Anthony need. We are only a few games in, and the Lakers offensive numbers have improved slightly over last year’s, but their defensive efficiency has dipped to 25th allowing 1.120-Points Per Possession. Don’t be surprised if this roster gets shook up before the All-Star break when LeBron and the Lakers get desperate to make a playoff run.

RUNNER UP – WHO NOT TO BET

Golden State Warriors +900

The Warriors should not be the 4th highest bet team to win the NBA Finals. The West is loaded at the top with Utah, Denver, Phoenix and even the Clippers, Blazers and Mavericks. The Warriors lofty numbers here are swayed by the eventual return of Klay Thompson and evolution of James Wiseman. If we combine the East and West, our model currently has the Warriors as the 10th best team in the NBA. The Warriors had a .542 winning percentage a year ago and the 14th best average Margin of Victory of +0.9PPG. Golden State was 24-10 SU last season against teams ranked 17th or worse in the NBA and 15-25 SU against teams ranked 16th or better. It’s tough to get through the Playoffs when you can’t beat the league's best teams.