The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers are the favorites to win the Western Conference at +175 odds even though they’re currently the #5 seed and fighting with the Dallas Mavericks and Portland Trail Blazers to avoid getting sucked into the play-in tournament as the #7 seed.
The LA Clippers were ambushed by the Denver Nuggets and lost the #3 seed over the weekend. The Clips and Nugs are now fighting over the third spot in the West, while the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns wrestle for the top seed and home-court advantage in the Western Conference playoffs.
| 2021 NBA Western Conference Odds |
| Record | Odds | |
| LA Lakers | 37-28 | +175 |
| LA Clippers | 43-22 | +240 |
| Utah Jazz | 47-18 | +325 |
| Phoenix Suns | 46-18 | +650 |
| Denver Nuggets | 43-22 | +1500 |
| Dallas Mavericks | 36-28 | +1900 |
| Portland Trail Blazers | 36-29 | +3200 |
| Golden State Warriors | 33-32 | +7000 |
| Memphis Grizzlies | 32-32 | +9000 |
| San Antonio Spurs | 31-33 | +15000 |
| New Orleans Pelicans | 29-36 | +15000 |
The Brooklyn Nets are the consensus favorites to win the 2021 NBA championship, but the Lakers are the second-highest team and the top Western Conference team on the futures board. The LA Clippers are the third-highest team to win the NBA title outright.
If you’re a futures bettor and want to bet on NBA championship odds, then don’t miss a chance to place a wager on the same team to win their conference. If the team you backed wins the title, then you get paid out twice if you also bet them to win their conference.
Healthy Lakers are Dangerous
The future of the LA Lakers hinges on their health. If everyone is healthy, especially LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers will be a threat to win the championship. But that’s a big if right now.
LeBron aggravated his ankle and could miss a couple of games down the stretch. The Lakers also lost starter Dennis Schroder for up to two weeks while he sits out due to the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
“Our team is a little shook right now,†Lakers head coach Frank Vogel told the LA Times.
If the Lakers aren’t 100% at the start of the postseason, they’re vulnerable to an early-round upset. The Lakers are the favorites at +175 odds to win the Western Conference, but if you back the Lakers, you’re essentially betting on a clean bill of health for LeBron and Schroder.
Hex of the Clippers
The LA Clippers are jinxed. They’ve never advanced to the NBA Finals because they’ve never advanced to the Western Conference finals. You can’t win the West if you can’t even make it to the finals, but that’s been the sad story for the Clippers the last decade. Despite some good teams over the past few years, the Clippers could never get out of the Western Conference semifinals. They were either upset in the first round or in the semifinals while under Doc Rivers.
The current Clippers are coached by Ty Lue. Now, it’s up to Lue to finally break the hex by guiding the Clippers into the Western Conference finals. The Clippers are the second-highest team on the futures board behind the Lakers at +240 odds to win the Western Conference finals for the first time in franchise history.
Paul George is playing his best stretch of hoops this season and has finally found his groove with the Clippers. He disappeared in the postseason last year, so it was really a one-man show for the Clippers with Kawhi Leonard. If Kawhi and George are in peak form, that dynamic duo can lead the Clippers to their first taste of the Western Conference finals, and beyond.
Jazz, Suns, or Nuggets
The Utah Jazz have the best record in the NBA and currently sit in the top slot in the West after flying under the radar for the first half of the season. Savvy bettors were hammering the Jazz at the start of the season, but the rest of the public understands the Jazz are among the elite teams in the West. That still hasn’t prevented the public from betting the Lakers and Clippers to advance to the NBA Finals. The Jazz are the top value pick to win the Western Conference at +325 odds.
The Phoenix Suns aren’t battle-tested because they haven’t been to the playoffs in over a decade. They’ll finally get much-needed experience this year. That’s part of the reason why the Suns acquired Chris Paul in a trade in order to provide the locker room with a veteran voice who knows how to get down and dirty in the playoffs. The Suns and Jazz were fighting for the #1 seed in the Western Conference, but they have great value at +650 odds.
The Denver Nuggets are 9-2 since losing Jamal Murray to a season-ending injury. Nikola Jokic is playing the best basketball of his career and he’s a tough matchup in the postseason. He even gave Anthony Davis trouble last year in the Western Conference finals. Without Murray, the Nugs will have a much harder time running the table to win the West. That’s why the Nuggets are +1500 odds to win the Western Conference.