Three live NBA title future bets to consider

While March Madness has captured the attention of just about every basketball bettor over the past 10 days, there are still two weeks left in the NBA regular season — and there’s enough uncertainty in the postseason standings to prompt compelling pricing in the futures market.

The Bucks (+300) and Celtics (+350), with the two best records in the league, remain the title favorites.

The Suns (+550) and Nuggets (+750) are the only other teams dealing at shorter than 10/1 odds.

Beyond those four?

It’s a scattered field of perennial contenders and play-in hopefuls, many of whom will be staring down an early exit in a few weeks.

Until then, the chaos out West and established hierarchy in the East leave plenty of value to be mined for the prospective bettor.

Here are three teams worth targeting to win it all ahead of the NBA postseason, with odds courtesy of BetMGM:

It feels like just yesterday when the 76ers were the trendy pick to win the East behind the perennially terrifying duo of Joel Embiid and James Harden. A few months later, that vision finally is coming to fruition.

Embiid has been the best player in basketball in March, averaging 35 points on 61.7 percent shooting ahead of the weekend to seize the top spot in the MVP race.

That has allowed Harden to excel in a supporting role. He dished out at least 10 assists in seven of his past eight starts, ranking second in assists per game (12.4) in that stretch.

It’s no surprise that the Sixers have the NBA’s best net rating (+13.1) since March 1, nearly doubling up the second-place Bucks (+7.0).

Embiid and company are peaking at the right time and are still dealing like a relative afterthought among the clear title favorites.

Clippers (20/1)

Yes, I know that Paul George (knee) is likely out for the rest of the regular season, which feels like another crushing blow for a team defined by injury risk.

But this is still an absolute bargain for one of the best teams, on paper, in the league.

This season, the Clippers have outscored teams by 8.9 points per 100 possessions when George and Kawhi Leonard are on the floor — winning 24 of 34 games with both players active, including five of six before George’s injury.

In the first game without George, Leonard dropped 32 points on a ridiculous 86.7 percent shooting to will the Clippers to victory.

If George returns in time for the playoffs, I’m simply not betting against those two cracking the code of whatever defense faces them, and I expect the duo to revive the Clippers’ elite defense when the stakes are high.

There’s injury risk here, as always, but the financial upside is as great as it’ll ever be with this group.

Cavaliers (30/1)

The betting market has slept on the Cavaliers all season long, though they profile as one of the best teams in the league with a legitimate case to break through in the postseason.

Cleveland ranks second in the NBA in net rating (+5.7) and defensive rating (109.8) and eighth in offensive rating (115.5) — one of just three teams (Celtics, 76ers) with top-10 marks across the board.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise given the talent on this roster, which features four legitimate All-Star-level players and one of the most underappreciated coaches in the game.

Here’s a nugget to consider: The five-man lineup of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert has the best defensive rating (101.0) and seventh-best net rating (+11.4) of any grouping with at least 200 minutes played.

Cleveland boasts a 6-5 record against the top three seeds in the East and deserves a title price closer to that trio.