NBA futures: Winless NBA teams with best odds of being champions in 2024
The 2023-24 NBA season is only a few games old, but there are already a few teams that are behind the 8-ball. But with so much season left, could one of these teams end up turning around and topping the rest of the league in the NBA Finals?
Sure, the playoffs are very — and I mean very — far in the future and a lot can happen over the course of one season. That doesn't stop us, however, from looking at which teams sportsbooks are favoring to be champions in 2024. And if we're going to look at who is favored to be the league's top team this season, we might as well look at the longest of longshots, too.
As of Monday afternoon, the Brooklyn Nets, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers are winless to start their 2023-24 campaigns. Here's a look at which team has the best odds of rebounding and becoming champions.
Over at DraftKings, the Memphis Grizzlies have the shortest odds out of the current winless NBA teams to win the championship next spring. Granted, they are still listed as 45-1 longshots. Nonetheless, there is clearly a belief that Derrick Rose and company can get out of the early hole they are in and be an NBA Finals contender.
The Nets are the next winless team with a chance at turning things all the way around, although they are listed at 150-1 odds. Brooklyn is 0-2 on the season but both of their first two games were close, as they narrowly fell 114-113 to the Cleveland Cavaliers and then 125-120 to Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. Their odds of winning a championship may be long, but they do look like they are close to getting into the win column.
As for the last two winless teams in the NBA? DK has the Rockets listed as 500-1 long shots to win the NBA Finals, while the Damian Lillard-less Trail Blazers are down in the cellar at 800-1 odds. The only team with longer odds than Portland is the Washington Wizards, who defeated the Grizzlies 113-106 over the weekend but are the longest shot to hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy 1000-1.
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