Clippers title odds plummeted to pre-Kawhi Leonard levels after losing Paul George to the 76ers
Paul George has agreed to a four-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported early Monday morning, ending his run with the Los Angeles Clippers after five years.
The betting implications of the move — which may have been precipitated by LA’s extension with Kawhi Leonard — are greater for the team George is departing than they are for the one he’s joining.
BREAKING: Free agent F Paul George has agreed on a four-year, $212 million maximum contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, sources tell ESPN. George committed in a meeting with Sixers officials and returns East to join Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey in pursuit of an NBA title. pic.twitter.com/pkCfGu3hyp
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2024
At BetMGM, Philadelphia’s odds to win the 2025 NBA title moved from an already strong +1200 to the league’s third-best odds at +800. They jumped the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference, but were already considered contenders before the move.
However, the Clippers’ odds made a bigger move in the opposite direction, dipping from +3000 to +5000. They went from having the fifth-best odds in the West to being 10th. Even with Kawhi Leonard back, and The Athletic’s Sham Charania reporting James Harden is also returning, the Clippers are basically considered a non-playoff team now.
It may be a little too soon to count LA completely out of the playoff race without seeing how the rest of free agency shakes out, but Leonard’s injury history combined with the Clippers having one less star to count on makes them an even tougher team to trust than they already were.
LA’s odds to win a title haven’t been this long since the season before George and Leonard arrived, in 2018-19 when they were +40000 to win the championship, according to SportsOddsHistory, and surprised with an eighth-place finish to make the playoffs.