The Los Angeles Clippers haven’t had their dynamic duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on the floor in over a year, but they still could take over as the game’s best in the 2022-23 season.
The Boston Celtics were the slight favorites to win the NBA Championship all offseason after finishing runner-up to the Golden State Warriors last year. But after head coach Ime Udoka was found to have an inappropriate relationship with a female staffer, he was suspended indefinitely for the upcoming season, with assistant coach Joe Mazzulla taking over.
Now, the Clippers are the favorite to win the title.
Check out the full NBA Championship odds below:
After the Udoka suspension was handed down, our Isaiah Sirois dove into how losing the head coach would affect their chances of winning the championship this season:
“The Celtics are yet to officially announce how they intend to discipline Udoka. But given how high the story has spread, it seems unlikely that he will at least start the year with Boston. The same is true of star center Robert Williams III, who required knee surgery and will miss training camp and the start of the season. Like Udoka, Williams was a pivotal part of Boston’s playoff run last season.
According to in-season reports, Boston’s turnaround falls squarely on Udoka. The head coach’s blunt methods helped Boston’s stars get the most out of themselves. He routinely challenged players to make smarter plays, fight harder on defense and even stay on the court despite being in pain. If interim coach Mazzulla can’t challenge Boston’s players in the same way – or, worse, if Mazzula does challenge Boston’s players in that way but lacks Udoka’s credibility – on-court performance could deteriorate.”
Ahead of the upcoming NBA season, oddsmakers see the league as wide-open for the taking among some of the favorites. That doesn’t feel like last season, when the parity around the league wasn’t quite as wide as it had been for the better part of the past decade.
Now, new teams such as the Clippers and Celtics are beginning to challenge the all-too-familiar NBA Final consisting of LeBron James and/or the Golden State Warriors.
Even though it’s hard to predict how teams like the Clippers will gel after dealing with a plethora of injuries and coaching changes in recent years, it’s easy to see how they have as good of a chance as anyone for an NBA title this season given their current roster filled with star power.
We’re bound to see plenty of changes to the championship odds as the season goes on. For now, the league is pretty much up for grabs, which should make for some entertaining television in the early going of the NBA season
