Written by :
Published on :
As we entered the month of July, the Lakers saw their odds of winning the 2023 NBA Championship get quite the boost thanks to a surge in action.
According to David Payne Purdum of ESPN, that money began to flow in Thursday June 30 at around 3 pm.
Caesars editorial content writer Max Meyer advised that there was one bet placed on the Lakers to win the Championship for $10,000 at 22-1 odds.
Since then, 52% of $ bet on the NBA title has been on the Lakers, including a $10K bet at 22/1. The Lakers have attracted 3.5 times as much money as any other team during that stretch
Flurry of action on the Lakers @CaesarsSports began around 3 p.m., yesterday. Since then, 52% of $ bet on the NBA title has been on the Lakers, including a $10K bet at 22/1. The Lakers have attracted 3.5 times as much money as any other team during that stretch, per @TheMaxMeyer.
— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) July 1, 2022
The price continued to fall through Friday, down from 22-1 to 10-1. As of Saturday morning, BetOnline had the Lakers chances at 12-1.
So was there a big trade we somehow missed?
Hardly.
According to Purdum, Los Angeles attracted 3.5 times more betting handle than any other team since Wednesday afternoon.
"People always think the Lakers will end up with everybody," Eric Fenstermaker, senior trading manager for Caesars Sportsbook.
Caesars took in enough $1,000 and $500 bets on the Lakers Friday alone to make Los Angeles its largest liability in the NBA title market. DraftKings also acknowledged a surge in Lakers futures bets.
The action took place during a period in which news broke that Rudy Gobert had been traded from the Utah Jazz to the Minnesota Timberwolves, thus prompting a significant shift in the later team's Championship odds. The Gobert trade has Minnesota going from 40-1 odds to 25-1 odds at BetOnline.
Additionally, the Brooklyn Nets NBA Championship odds got longer on news that Kevin Durant had requested a trade. Those odds went from 15-2 to 30-1.
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
