The NBA draft saw more than a dozen trades, but one that had no bearing on draft night completely overturned the odds to win the NBA championship in 2014.
Boston agreed to trade Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn for draft picks and spare parts, and sportsbooks reacted predictably.
The Nets, 40/1 longshots earlier in the day, soared to 10/1, just behind the Miami Heat as favorites in the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics' odds, meanwhile, nosedived the other direction, falling to a distant 75/1, according to Sportsbook.
“Even though the draft did not really produce anything worthy of adjusting our Championship odds, the trade between the Celtics and Nets definitely did have an impact,” said Kevin Bradley of Sportsbook.lv.
“Meanwhile, the Celtics losing their coach and two future Hall of Famers are up to 75-1, which is the highest pre-season odds they have been since I can remember.”
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That means 2006 or earlier when the Celtics were also-rans in the NBA picture. The next year they orchestrated the Kevin Garnett trade from Minnesota and the Ray Allen trade from Seattle. That created Boston’s ‘Big Three’ which won championships and elevated the Celtics to perennial contender status.
But now it’s time for Boston to start over and three first-round picks from Brooklyn is a good start.
Philadelphia was 100/1 last week, but 150/1 today as they signaled a rebuilding effort by trading guard Jrue Holiday for Nerlens Noel and a future first.
Otherwise, it was an unpredictable draft devoid of guaranteed quality or superstars. And none of the draftees had an impact on the NBA futures at Sportsbook.
Miami remains a 2/1 favorite to win a third straight NBA title. No other team is close to them at this stage, with Oklahoma City a distant second betting choice at 11/2 and the Los Angeles Clippers tied with the aforementioned Nets for third at 10/1.
