NBA title odds: Nuggets soar to top of odds after sweeping Lakers, Celtics on brink of elimination

Entering the Western Conference Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets shared much closer odds to win the NBA championship than the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat.

At BetMGM, the Nuggets entered the series as the second overall choice to win the NBA title at +240, with the Lakers not far behind at +300. Meanwhile, the Celtics were far and away the favorite at +110 and the Heat were at 12/1 to take home the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.

After Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and company dispatched the Lakers on their home court Monday night to earn their first-ever trip to the NBA Finals, Denver became the overwhelming favorite at not just BetMGM, but at Caesars and FanDuel as well, to take home their first title.

Odds updated as of 10:15 a.m. on May 23.

Across the board, oddsmakers have the Nuggets similarly, with Denver priced as a high as -280 at Caesars to win it all.

Entering the season, the Nuggets entered at 14/1 odds to win the championship, in a five-way tie with the 76ers, Heat, Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks at BetMGM. When the playoffs started, it lowered to 10/1, then +700 after Denver knocked the Minnesota Timberwolves out in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

The second option, the Heat, were as high as +12500 on April 15 at BetMGM to win the NBA title a day before their series started with the Milwaukee Bucks. After taking down the New York Knicks in the second round of the playoffs, their odds moved to +1200, before to the start of the conference finals.

The Heat, now on the verge of sweeping the Celtics, sit at just under 3/1 odds to take home their fourth NBA title. Before the series began, oddsmakers set the price for the Heat to sweep the Celtics at +4000, and +400 to win the series at all.

It has been quite the fall for Boston, which was the second preseason option to win the NBA championship (+550) and a big favorite to win it all ahead of the conference finals (+110). The Celtics were valued at -550 at BetMGM to advance out of the Eastern Conference finals before Game 1; now that number has ballooned to +750.

Big bets cash via first basket prop

Before the Nuggets swept the Lakers in Game 4, a bettor won big using a unique prop bet at FanDuel to bring in a six-figure payoff.

On Sunday night, the second of a two-leg parlay was cashed in when Heat forward Kevin Love scored the first basket of the game (+5000) in Miami’s blowout Game 3 win over the Celtics. In the Lakers-Nuggets matchup on Saturday night for Game 3, Denver guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was the other leg of the parlay to score the game’s first basket (+7500), which also cashed.

The bettor put down $50, with total odds of +387500, earning a payout of more than $193,000. It was one of the biggest bets cashed in from the NBA conference finals among the big three sportsbooks.