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Portland Trail Blazers fans are justifiably excited about the trade that brought Robert Covington to the Rose City. Professional odds-makers are less sanguine. After the first big round of NBA deals for 2020, Portland lost ground on league leaders on the odds chart for the 2021 NBA Championship.
According to online site BetOnline.ag, the Blazers have fallen from 33-1 odds for a title on October 7th to 50-1 today, November 17th. The Covington trade doesn’t provide a direct correlation for the drop, though. 19 of 30 teams slipped backwards, while only five advanced.
The near league-wide drop was precipitated by the three leading teams—the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Brooklyn Nets—all shooting upwards. The Lakers rose from 4-1 to 13-4, the Bucks from 9-1 to 5-1, while the Nets doubled their odds from 12-1 to 6-1. Los Angeles is reportedly bringing on Oklahoma City guard Dennis Schroder, while the Bucks traded for New Orleans star Jrue Holiday. Meanwhile the Nets are rumored to be the favored destination of all-league scorer James Harden.
In short, the odds shift doesn’t indicate the Covington trade was bad, rather that it wasn’t enough to push Portland ahead for the ultimate prize.