Warriors Betting Odds: After Klay Thompson Injury, Is Golden State A Championship Contender?

The Golden State Warriors’ title odds have plummeted after reports that Klay Thompson will miss the entire upcoming NBA season. Considered a Western Conference favorite entering the 2020-21 season, Golden State is a longshot to win the Finals without their star shooting guard.

The Warriors’ odds to win the 2021 NBA Finals plunged to 100/1 on Thursday afternoon at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski had earlier reported that Thompson was diagnosed with a torn Achilles. Thompson suffered the injury Wednesday while practicing in Southern California.

Before Thompson got hurt, Golden State had 8/1 championship odds. Just four other teams had better than 16/1 odds of winning the title.

The Los Angeles Lakers are favored to repeat with 3/1 odds, while the Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets all have 5/1 odds.

The New Orleans Pelicans, who missed the 2020 playoffs, are ahead of Golden State with 60/1 odds. The Houston Rockets have better odds than the Warriors at 50/1 amid rumors that both James Harden and Russell Westbrook could be traded.

Thompson missed all of the 2019-20 season with a torn ACL and Stephen Curry only played five games because of a broken hand. Golden State finished at the bottom of the overall NBA standings.

The Warriors reached the NBA Finals every year from 2015-2019. Thompson never missed more than nine games in any of those regular seasons.

When Thompson and Curry are both healthy, Golden State boasted among the greatest shooting tandems in league history. Thompson was an All-Star in each of his last five seasons, averaging at least 20 points per game and shooting better than 40% from three-point range in each year. Curry is a two-time NBA MVP.

Golden State, meanwhile, selected center James Wiseman with the No. 2 overall pick in Wednesday’s NBA Draft.