LeBron James’ injury and an impressive stretch by the Brooklyn Nets without Kevin Durant raised the NBA betting market.
The Nets outscored the Los Angeles Lakers in several sports books and are now the consensus favorites to win the NBA title. Brooklyn has won 15 of its last 17 games and moved up to second in the Eastern Conference, one game behind the Philadelphia 76ers. Durant missed the last 15 games, with a hamstring injury expected to remove a few more games.
James suffered a sprained ankle on Saturday after losing to the Atlanta Hawks, an injury that could make him miss several weeks. The Lakers are already without Anthony Davis, who has had a calf strain and tendonitis in his right leg for more than a month and is expected to miss at least another week.
The Lakers lost their second straight game in Phoenix on Sunday and dropped to third in the Western Conference. They are just four games ahead of the Dallas Mavericks in eighth place.
“You’ll see the Lakers as a big underdog on the road and a small underdog at home,” said Jeff Sherman, vice president of risk at SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas. “You take the two guys [James and Davis] out of the team and it will be a fight for a place in the playoffs “.
Sherman moved the Nets to 2-1 to win the NBA title after James’ injury and dropped the Lakers to 4-1, the longest chance of the season.
Other sports books were more cautious with the Lakers odds waiting for James and Davis to return to the playoffs. In New Jersey, at William Hill’s Caesars Sportsbook, the Lakers remained the title favorites at +260, slightly ahead of the Nets at +280.
“We raised the Lakers’ odds a little and lowered some of the other teams in the Western Conference,” Adam Pullen, assistant director of trading for William Hill, told ESPN. “It simply came to our notice then [James] he has enough time to get healthy before the playoffs if he needs it. If that injury is found to be much more severe, then we will need to make some major adjustments. “
DraftKings’ sports card also kept the Lakers as a favorite since Monday morning, but most of the cards had the Nets with the best odds.
Joel Embiid, the star of James and the 76-year-old, is injured, Nikola Jokic, the Denver Nuggets center, has become the favorite to win the regular season MVP. Jokic is +110 at William Hill, followed by James (+450) and Embiid (+600).
The Nets’ James Harden, who went 100-1 to win the MVP at some point, is now 10-1.