Warriors Odds to Win the NBA Title Plummeting as Overreaction to LeBron's Dominance of East

Late last June, when the media were still picking at the carcass of the 73-win Golden State Warriors who lost in the finals, Stephen Curry’s team was +200 to win the 2017 NBA title according to CG Technology in Las Vegas. The Kevin Durant rumor mill was churning, but it was still too early to actually envision him in the midnight blue and gold.

Then, on July 4, 2016, as soon as the news hit that Durant was leaving the Thunder for the Warriors, Golden State was installed as -140 favorites to win the 2017 title by CG Technology VP of Risk Management, Jason Simbal. CG Technology runs the Sports Books at Cosmo, Palms and Venetian, among other places along the Vegas strip.

We’ve charted the odds to win the title for the Warriors and Cavs for the entire season using numbers from CG Technology, and the overreaction to what LeBron has been doing in the playoffs has been staggering. The Warriors are 12-0 in the postseason, and their odds of winning have gone down. The Warriors haven’t lost with the Big 4 healthy since February 4th, and yet money is coming in on Cleveland. The power of LeBron.

And all of that change has been a dramatic improvement in the Cavaliers’ championship odds.