Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Published Thursday, July 8, 2010 | 8:30 p.m.
Updated Friday, July 9, 2010 | 5:09 p.m.
Las Vegas already has felt reverberations from LeBron James' decision to join the Miami Heat some 2,500 miles away.
Although some sports books around town have yet to post future odds on which team will win the 2010-2011 NBA Championship, many have immediately swayed their numbers in favor of the Heat.
Lucky's, which operates the sports books at Terrible's and the Plaza, and the Las Vegas Hilton Superbook have listed the Heat as 9-to-5 favorites to win next year's title after James' decision to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in South Florida. As recently as July 1, Lucky's price on the Heat to win next year's championship was 7-to-1.
The Los Angeles Lakers opened as the favorite to defend their championship at Lucky's at a price of 12-to-5. After James announced his intention to go to Miami, the Lakers price jumped up to 5-to-2.
According to VegasInsider.com, the Heat had as high as 25-to-1 odds to win the title before Wade, Bosh and James committed to them. A large number of sports books have not posted NBA future odds because of the many top-tier free agents in the NBA this summer.
Lucky's and the Hilton both added to their Heat wagering menu Friday. Lucky's has set the over/under for Miami's win total next season at 62.5. Both the over and under are listed at a price of -110 (risking $1.10 to win $1). Lucky's also offers a prop asking bettors whether or not LeBron James will win a championship in the next two seasons with the "yes" listed at -200 (risking $2 to win $1) and the "no" at +175 (risking $1 to win $1.75).
The Hilton has already posted future odds on next season's eastern and western conference. The Heat come in as 1-to-2 favorites to win the East, while the Lakers are 6-to-5 in the West. Without James, the Hilton now lists the Cleveland Cavaliers as 300-to-1 to win the NBA Championship.
Well duhhh, he's only played for Cleveland since high school.
James has won 3 championships since graduation.
he said it last night... you become a superstar individually, you become a champion as a team.
if that was a corporate ceo...you know...and evil rich white republican going after all that money, the liberals would be burning their birkenstocks in the streets.
Will there be enough "looks" for LBJ, Wade, and Bosh? How are these three superstars going to mesh and get along? Is the rest of team going to just sit there like lap dogs and beg for a few scraps from the three of them?
Next season will very interesting to say the least in the NBA.
Best of wishes to all 9/5 chalk bettors.
GIVE IT A BREAK ALREADY! There has been absolutely too much time devoted to the new team chosen by a basketball player. There are wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the worst oil spill in the history of the world, homelessness, foreclosures, weird weather, weekly earthquakes, towns closing up, people losing jobs. But what the media is reporting - ad nauseum - is that LeBron James is going to play for the Miami Heat. Where are our priorities?
To me NBA ball is about as enjoyable to watch as the World Cup. I think they have to build up these mega-stars to sell tickets because the product they put out is crap anymore.I'd rather watch a good Big East battle than the NBA.
Stevem"is your life really filled with that much hatred and animosity that even a sports article gets twisted into racial and political finger pointing?
He has endorsement deals valued at around $90M, so I think he qualifies as CEO of "Lebron inc." and in case you missed Sports Center, the liberals, conservatives, independents, etc. in Cleveland were burning their jerseys and emailing death threats.
He was also called a coward for going after a championship instead of "going after all that money"...in case you're not up on sports: league rules allowed Cleveland to offer more money, so he's actually taking a pay cut by leaving.
Well who says you cant have a dream team in the NBA......
What a shame, all that money for a guy that can barely spell his own name. Severely over paid janitor to bounce a ball and dunk it in a basket, like most NBA players.