These NBA teams' championship odds shortened after the trade deadline
If you found yourself underwhelmed by this year's NBA trade deadline, you aren't alone. Oddsmakers weren't terribly moved this time around either, and odds for teams to win the championship in June didn't appear to budge.
Interestingly enough, there are two teams — one in the East and one out West — who did pretty much nothing at the trade deadline but have shorter odds now than they did at the end of January.
Here's a look at what these two teams have done to shorten their championship odds.
Despite being one of the quietest teams at the NBA trade deadline, the Cleveland Cavaliers went from being 50-1 long shots at DraftKings to being listed at 28-1 following the Feb. 8 cutoff.
You can't blame the Cavs for not wanting to change things up. They made a ton of moves over the summer, which are clearly paying off, as the deadline hit during a nine-game winning streak that helped them surge into the No. 2 seed in the East. They have 27-year-old guard Donovan Mitchell making a strong case as an MVP candidate, and they are signing stand-out rookie Craig Porter Jr. to a four-year deal.
"I mean, this is an exciting basketball team," Cavaliers president of basketball ops Koby Altman said, via the Akron Beacon Journal. "This is a core group that's 28 years or younger that's set up for success for a long time. And they're getting better."
However, no team saw their odds shorten more following the trade deadline than the Los Angeles Clippers. L.A. was also quiet at the Feb. 8 cutoff, having made their big trade back around Halloween when they traded for James Harden. Still, the Clippers now have the third-shortest odds at DK to win the title at +500.
In fact, the Clippers' odds were +1800 in the week leading up to the Harden trade and have progressively shortened as the season has progressed. Sure, "The Beard" has contributed for his part and leads the team in rebounds, but having a mostly healthy Kawhi Leonard ranking fourth in the league with 24.1 points has given this team a noticeable boost.
This isn't to say that Tyronn Lue's roster is perfect post-deadline. There is still the matter of P.J. Tucker being very unhappy with not being moved after L.A. couldn't find a trade partner wanting to give him an on-court role. Time will tell how much stress this mess puts on the team, but for the moment, the Clippers' short odds are very favorable despite being quiet at the deadline.
With the NBA All-Star break coming up, the NBA championship odds will stay still for some time ahead of the last stretch of the season. But we will keep an eye on whether those trade deadline moves have an impact on those odds down the road. While the trade deadline itself didn't move the needle much, there's no telling what impact those moves will have at sportsbooks as the regular season winds down.
More must-reads: