Sportsbooks have Celtics as favorites -- or near the top -- to win 2023 NBA title
BOSTON -- There is still some offseason left in the NBA, with a couple of potential blockbuster trades to be made. But for now, the dust has settled on free agency and we have a pretty good idea what most teams will look like when the 2022-23 NBA season tips off.
And as of right now, the Boston Celtics are either the favorite or near the tippy top of the list to win it all next season. That should come as no surprise, considering Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and company were two wins shy of a title last season, and Brad Stevens went out and bolstered Boston's depth by adding Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari to the mix.
If you're feeling good about the Celtics, so are a lot of the gamblers out there. And that is usually good news in the sports world.
The Celtics are the favorites at Draftkings Sportsbook, a +550 to bring home the Larry O'Brien Trophy next summer. The L.A. Clippers (+600), Golden State Warriors (+600), Phoenix Suns (+650), Milwaukee Bucks (+700), and L.A. Lakers (+1100) follow Boston.
The Celtics are also the favorites to win a championship at PointsBet, which has Boston at +550 heading into the new season. The teams that follow Boston are a little different than Draftkings, with the Bucks (+600), Clippers (+700), Warriors (+750), Suns (+800), and Miami Heat (+1100) coming in behind the C's.
BetMGM has the Celtics atop their list, but Boston is not alone. Both the Celtics and the Bucks are at +550 to win a title in 2022-23, and both are square at +225 to win the East. The Celtics beat the Bucks in the East semifinals last postseason, but Milwaukee was without Khris Middleton for the series. With the Celtics adding Brogdon this offseason, any future Celtics-Bucks matchups should be just as entertaining as this past postseason's seven-game thriller.
The Celtics are not atop the leaderboard at Caesars Sportsbook (via CBS Sports). In fact, Boston doesn't even own sole possession of second after the defending champion Golden State Warriors, who are at +500 to repeat in 2022-23. The Celtics are at +600 at Ceasars, tied with the Brooklyn Nets with the second-best odds to win it all. The Bucks follow at +750, with the Clippers and the Suns both checking in at +800.
Of course, these odds won't matter once the new season tips off in October. It will be up to the Celtics to build off their incredible second half of the 2021-22 season and run to the NBA Finals. There is no guarantee that they'll be back in the Finals next season, let alone win it. It's all up to them and how they play on the court.
But as we enter the dog days of summer, roughly a month after Boston's surprising run to the Finals ended in disappointment, it's nice to have something to look forward to with Boston's basketball team.