Rumors and speculation about LeBron James possibly returning to Cleveland next season may be meaningless to many of you, but they mean plenty to Las Vegas oddsmakers and casinos. When the NBA season ended, the Cavaliers had 60-1 odds to win the 2015 NBA championship at most sportsbooks. They are now inching toward becoming the favorites.
As ESPN.com’s David Purdum pointed out, the Cavs are now 10-1 odds to win next year’s title at the MGM in Las Vegas. The reports about LeBron’s wife wanting him to go back to Cleveland and Cavs owner Dan Gilbert trying to make nice with James have inspired gamblers to drop some serious coin on a team that finished 33-49 last season.
“(The Cavs) are our biggest liability right now,” MGM VP of Race and Sports Jay Rood told ESPN. “We took a dime ($1,000) on them at 40-1.”
As of Monday night, only the defending champion San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls had attracted more money at Vegas casinos than the Cavs. According to Las Vegas Superbook assistant manager and head NBA oddsmaker Jeff Sherman, there have not been many bets on the Cavs that were “significant” in size but the amount of wagers has already cut Cleveland’s odds from 60-1 to 30-1.
If LeBron did end up signing with the Cavs, Sherman said Cleveland would become one of the favorites at around 8-1.
“They are such a young team,” he explained. “They would be better positioned for the next season than this upcoming one.”
We don’t know if LeBron will go back to Cleveland. I’m starting to believe the hype while LB just doesn’t see it happening. Let’s just say if I lived next to a casino that had the Cavs at 60-1 to win next year’s championship, I’d probably have to give it some thought.
