The Houston Rockets pulled off one of the bigger deals of the 2019 offseason on Thursday night, trading Chris Paul and a series of future picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Russell Westbrook. As a result, Houston’s chances of winning the 2020 NBA championship have gone up substantially.
Via Marcus White of NBC Sports:
Caesar’s Palace moved the Rockets from 10-to-1 (+1000) odds of winning next season’s NBA championship to 7-to-1 (+700) after the deal was reported, according to Bleacher Report. The Oklahoma City Thunder, who dealt Westbrook in exchange for fellow point guard Chris Paul and a package of first-round picks, dropped to 100-to-1 (+1000) longshots.
Russ x The Beard
(via @CaesarsPalace) pic.twitter.com/13xQiXLnnK
— B/R Betting (@br_betting) July 12, 2019
Predicting who will win the 2020 championship has been a difficult job, considering the fact that so many key players have changed teams. The Golden State Warriors were 12/1 after agreeing to a sign-and-trade for D’Angelo Russell on June 30. In more recent projections, however, the Warriors are down to 14/1. For a bit of perspective, the Thunder moved from 40/1 to 200/1 after trading Paul George and now sit at 500/1. The Clippers (+350), Bucks (+450) and Lakers (+450) are among the favorites for the coming season. The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook currently has the Rockets at +800.
The NBA landscape has changed quite a bit this offseason. Exactly which team will rise to the top is still up for debate, but the Rockets will be looking to make a push with Westbrook and Harden reuniting.
The post Rockets’ 2020 title odds improve after Russell Westbrook trade appeared first on ClutchPoints.
