Lakers Have Second-Best NBA Title Odds With LeBron James, Paul George Hitting Free Agency

With all the rumors regarding LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George potentially joining the Los Angeles Lakers, the team is expected to quickly become a title contender. Even though L.A. has yet to land one of those players, only the Golden State Warriors are given better odds to win the 2019 NBA Finals.

Some Las Vegas casinos aren’t offering NBA futures bets at the moment because there is so much uncertainty regarding the league’s top free agents. That’s not the case at Bovada.lv, where the Lakers are given better than 5/1 odds to win next year’s championship.

The Lakers finished 12 games under .500 in the 2017-2018 season and 12 games out of the playoffs. The team last made the playoffs in 2013, and they haven’t won a postseason game in six years.

Things are certainly looking up for the storied franchise. Los Angeles has increased its win total by exactly nine games in each of the last two years. Along with having a core of promising young players that they’ve built with high draft picks, the Lakers appear to be on the verge of adding at least one, if not two or three All-Stars.

Now that James has informed the Cleveland Cavaliers he intends to become a free agent, the Lakers are one of just three realistic destinations for the NBA’s best player. Some believe it’s actually just a two-team race between Cleveland and Los Angeles. The same goes for George, who’s deciding between staying with the Oklahoma City Thunder and joining the Lakers. The Philadelphia 76ers are viewed as possible destinations, yet long shots, for both players.

Then there’s Leonard, who doesn’t control his own destiny. He’s told the San Antonio Spurs that he will sign elsewhere as a free agent in 2019, and the team appears to ready to move on from their top player. The Lakers, 76ers, Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers have all reportedly held talks with San Antonio.

Leonard can’t choose where he’s traded, but he can exert a level of influence. Boston and Philadelphia could be wary of matching San Antonio’s asking price because the two-time Defensive Player of the Year reportedly wants to sign with an L.A. team next summer. The Lakers have more assets to offer the Spurs than the Clippers, giving them a real shot to execute a trade.

If the Lakers somehow fail to land any of those three players, their championship odds will quickly plummet. Even adding just of the stars would make it nearly impossible for Los Angeles to compete with the defending champs.

Because the Lakers are favored to sign James, the Cavs are sixth among all teams with 18/1 title odds. They might jump the 76ers (+860) if James announces he’s staying in Cleveland. Boston (+500) will likely remain the favorites in the East unless the 76ers add an All-Star or the Cavs can somehow give James some more help.

The Houston Rockets are the third favorites in the West behind Golden State and Los Angeles. They are effectively out of the LeBron James Sweepstakes, though they are expected to keep free-agent-to-be Chris Paul.