The Boston Celtics are four wins away from being the first preseason favorite to win the NBA Finals since the Golden State Warriors.
Boston opened the season as the co-favorite for the 2024 title at BetMGM with the Milwaukee Bucks at +400. Both teams saw their odds drop significantly over the course of the offseason; the Celtics added Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, while Milwaukee traded Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers as part of a package to acquire Damian Lillard.
If Boston beats either the Dallas Mavericks (their very likely Finals opponent) or the Minnesota Timberwolves (highly unlikely), the Celtics will be the first preseason title favorite to actually win the Finals since 2018. That season, the Warriors opened at -187 to win the title per Basketball Reference after they went 67-15 and won the NBA Finals the season before.
By now, you know how everything went wrong for the Warriors in the postseason. Kevin Durant returned from a calf injury and ruptured his Achilles in the Finals and Klay Thompson tore his ACL. The Warriors were going for a third consecutive Finals win in their fifth consecutive Finals appearance.
Instead, the Raptors won the title in Kawhi Leonard’s only season in Toronto. The Raptors made an audacious trade for Leonard ahead of the season and it paid off with a 58-24 regular season record and the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. Leonard’s iconic shot sent the Raptors to the Eastern Conference finals in Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers, and Toronto took down a depleted Golden State team in six games.
The Lakers were a close No. 2 favorite to the Clippers ahead of what turned out to be a tumultuous 2020 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lakers struggled in LeBron James’ first season in Los Angeles but traded for Anthony Davis ahead of the 2019-2020 season. With a team built around James and Davis and role players like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma and Danny Green playing key parts, the Lakers won each of their Western Conference playoff series in five games before taking down the Heat in six games.
