The Lakers are headed back to Denver on their revenge tour, but oddsmakers still expect it to be the Nikola Jokic show.
DraftKings oddsmakers have the Lakers as big +250 underdogs in their first-round NBA playoffs series against the Nuggets.
While that’s a large number, it still shows quite a bit of respect for LeBron James’ seventh-seeded Lakers against the seemingly impenetrable Nuggets, who are widely expected to be in the NBA Finals again.
But has this year’s Lakers team improved enough to the point where they can actually upset Jokic and the second-seeded Nuggets (-250)?
Last season’s Lakers-Nuggets Western Conference Finals — a No. 1 vs. No. 7 series — opened at just +120/-145, so there’s a bit less of an expectation this year for Los Angeles.
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The Lakers initially opened at +300 to win the upcoming series, but it seems like some money came in on the underdog to force the line move down to +250 on DraftKings.
Bet365 is currently offering the best series price for the Lakers at +310, considerably better than the +250 odds that can be found elsewhere.
Lakers vs. Nuggets series odds
- Lakers (+310, DraftKings) vs. Nuggets (-250)
Los Angeles nearly blew a 20-point lead against the Pelicans on Tuesday night but wound up pulling off the victory to set a date with the Nuggets.
The Lakers were swept last season in the Western Conference Finals, as the Nuggets put all four games away in the clutch moments.
This story remained consistent during the regular season when Denver won all three games against the Lakers.
Nikola Jokic may be LeBron’s kryptonite. Getty Images Denver has won eight straight games against the Lakers, including the postseason.
If the Lakers want a chance in this first-round series, it will come down to Anthony Davis, who has a combined -39 plus/minus against the Nuggets this season.
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Davis says that he and James took the Nuggets’ trash talk after the series personally.
“We get it, y’all won,” Davis said. “I think me and ‘Bron had some conversations and we can’t wait.”
Game 1 will be in primetime Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. ET, where the Lakers are consensus seven-point underdogs.
