Best bets to win the NBA title, which doesn’t include the Warriors

The Golden State Warriors won last season’s NBA Finals after opening up with +1200 odds. Nothing wrong with that payout.

This season the Warriors are the second favorite to win it all. They have +600 odds. The Boston Celtics, the team that lost last season’s NBA Finals, are the favorite at BetMGM. Here are the preseason odds for the top contenders:

Boston Celtics +500

Golden State Warriors +600

Milwaukee Bucks +650

Brooklyn Nets +700

Los Angeles Clippers +700

Phoenix Suns +1000

Philadelphia 76ers +1400

Miami Heat +1600

Denver Nuggets +1800

Los Angeles Lakers +1800

Our Yahoo Sportsbook team has our best bets to win the NBA Finals this season, and nobody is taking Golden State to win two in a row (our NBA MVP bets, Rookie of the Year and other award bets and our best season win total bets are already made):

GREG BRAINOS: I’m playing Philadelphia to win the East at +750. I love the new additions of role players P.J. Tucker, De’Anthony Melton, Danuel House Jr., and Montrezl Harrell for this team. Another leap from Tyrese Maxey makes their offense a bigger nuclear threat than Dennis Rodman’s pal. Time is running out on the process and I think they’ll push their chips in before the trade deadline and acquire another big piece for a championship run.

My favorite play to win it all is a longshot that I may be a year too early on, but I just can’t resist the value on the New Orleans Pelicans at 40-to-1. Their roster is loaded with prolific scorers and defensive dawgs, they have an excellent coach, and they play with the same type of fire and grit as the Grizzlies. The Pelicans are built to win in the playoffs. Zion Williamson Shaqs the entire league, New Orleans wins the Larry O’Brien Trophy, and David Griffin plays the piano at the championship parade.

NICK BROMBERG: Stay away from the Nets. They’re not worth betting at +700 to win the title. Don’t fall for it. Don’t pay the Lakers tax at +1800 either. The Bucks are the best value at +650 among the handful of favorites and the Sixers may be worth a shot at +1400. But if I was going to bet a non-favorite outside of the Bucks I’d go with the Nuggets. The health of Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. is obviously a huge variable, but that team has the talent to win it all.

FRANK SCHWAB: It’s hard to find a long shot title bet in the NBA. Everyone is very good at identifying the right championship contenders and they’re usually priced correctly. The one team down the list I can talk myself into is the Memphis Grizzlies at +2000 because Ja Morant is a bad, bad man. The Cleveland Cavaliers at +3000 might be worth a look too. They have a fun young core, though it’s hard to see them hitting their ceiling this season. My only play among the expected contenders will be the Milwaukee Bucks at +650, though it’s not like the odds are giving us a ton of value.