Why sportsbooks will be ‘pulling against the Lakers' and Luka Doncic in the NBA Playoffs
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Not quite. That distinction belongs to the 50-32 Los Angeles Lakers.
'They're always going to be one of the top NBA teams bet with us, just like the Yankees [are for MLB] and Cowboys [are for NFL],' said Hal Egeland, trading strategy manager at BetMGM. 'Between LeBron James and the Lakers, those are two of the biggest fan bases in the NBA. But once the Luka [Dončić] trade happened, that Lakers action was supercharged. Adding to the excitement level with someone like Luka, it just became a perfect storm.'
The Lakers opened at +2500 (bet $100 to win $2500) to win the 2025 NBA championship at BetMGM and were up at +4000 before one of the most shocking moves in recent sports history.
BetMGM immediately moved the Lakers' title odds to +1800 after the Dončić-Anthony Davis trade was first reported on Feb. 2. That number went down as low as +700 after a $100,000 wager came in on the Lakers at +1000 for a potential win of $1 million. Now, Los Angeles sits at +1100 — only behind the Thunder (+175), Celtics (+220) and Cleveland Cavaliers (+600) ahead of the NBA playoffs.
Among all NBA championship wagers placed at BetMGM, the Lakers are tops with both 15.9 percent of the bets and 15.4 percent of the money. It's the same story at other sportsbooks as well. ESPN BET is reporting 17 percent of the bets and 19.5 percent of the money coming in on Los Angeles to win it all.
'In terms of liability, it's the Lakers and then everyone else,' said Adrian Horton, Director of North American Sports Trading at ESPN BET. 'They were attracting interest over the first half of the season, but it's really kicked into high gear since the Luka trade, as nearly a third of all NBA champion money has been on LA. As the team continues to perform and the betting public continues to back them, we'll be pulling against the Lakers in just about every playoff scenario.'
But what did Lakers title betting action look like ahead of the blockbuster trade, and how does it compare to what it's been since Luka donned the purple and gold?
According to Pikkit, an app that allows sports bettors to sync their sportsbook accounts, the Lakers were sixth among all teams in both bets (3 percent) and money (2 percent) on NBA title bets tracked from when the market was first posted on June 18 all the way to Feb. 1.
From Feb. 2 to now, Los Angeles has captured 30 percent of all bets and 35 percent of all money among all NBA title bets tracked by Pikkit. There have actually been more Lakers title bets tracked at Pikkit in that span of 10-plus weeks than any other team has received in the entire 10 months that NBA championship odds have been up.
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'Whenever a major player goes to a new team, we'll see immediate action on that new team,' said Johnny Avello, race and sports operations director at DraftKings. 'It happens all the time, even outside of the NBA. When the Mets got Juan Soto, we saw a bunch of action on the Mets. The Luka trade was even more so since there wasn't a whole lot going on, and it became the focal point of the week.'
Hard Rock Bet told The Athletic that since the Dončić trade, the sportsbook has seen an average of 66.7 percent more bets on Lakers games compared to when Anthony Davis was still on the team. Additionally, at Hard Rock Bet, the Lakers have collected the most bets and money to win the Western Conference, and the Lakers over the Celtics is the most popular NBA Finals exacta wager.
'Luka to the Lakers changed everything,' said Neil Walsh, Hard Rock Bet's SVP-Sportsbook. 'Since then, we've seen incredible enthusiasm for the Lakers across the board and LA is now our most popular selection to win the title by any measure — and it isn't even close.'
It hasn't been just bets on Los Angeles to win the championship that sportsbooks have been seeing. BetMGM opened the Lakers as -160 favorites to win their first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves. That price is up to -200 thanks to 98 percent of the money coming in on Los Angeles, which Egeland called 'easily the most lopsided action' of any playoff series.
'The Lakers and Warriors are the biggest liabilities to win the NBA championship,' Christian Cipollini, BetMGM trading manager, told The Athletic. 'As a result, the sportsbook gets to cheer for the Thunder and Celtics, both favorites to win their respective conferences.'
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