Any team that has LeBron James is a championship contender. Unfortunately for the Cavs, they fell just two victories short of ending the city’s 51-year championship drought in the 2015 NBA Finals.
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Despite the tough loss, the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook still has the Cleveland Cavaliers the 9-4 favorites to win the 2016 NBA Championship. Right behind them is this year’s champion Warriors tied up with the Oklahoma City Thunder at 5-1 odds to win. The West will likely continue to dominate as the Clippers came in at the fourth favorites as 10-1 favorites to win the title. Here’s the full list of odds the Superbook is giving all 30 teams:
Cavaliers 9-4
Warriors 5-1
Thunder 5-1
Clippers 10-1
Spurs 12-1
Bulls 12-1
Hawks 20-1
Rockets 20-1
Wizards 30-1
Pacers 30-1
Grizzlies 30-1
Heat 30-1
Blazers 40-1
Mavericks 40-1
Knicks 80-1
Celtics 80-1
Bucks 80-1
Pistons 80-1
Jazz 80-1
Suns 80-1
Lakers 80-1
Nuggets 80-1
Kings 100-1
Nets 100-1
76ers 200-1
Magic 200-1
Wolves 200-1
Hornets 200-1
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“Look at what they [Cleveland] are doing without Love and Irving,” Jeff Sherman, assistant manager and NBA oddsmaker at the SuperBook, told ESPN. “We’ve seen with the Heat, where the first year LeBron didn’t win. Usually things improve, chemistry improves. We just expect that they’ll be that much better next year and actually have some separation between other teams, assuming that they’re healthy.”
The Golden State Warriors were relatively healthy the whole season, and it resulted in an NBA Championship this season. If the Cavs have Anderson Varejao, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving back and healthy next season, there’s no reason why the Cavs can’t win it all in 2016.
