NBA Title Odds – No Big Trades = No Big Shakeups

Not sure why I expected anything different. After last year’s flurry of activity at the NBA Trade Deadline, I thought we were set up for another year of game-changing deals and franchise-altering trades. But as the deadline came and went, Blake Griffin, Dwight Howard, Kevin Love, Ryan Anderson, Jeff Teague, and Al Horford all stayed in place and we were left pretending that anyone cared about Donatas Motiejunas.

It’s not that some of the moves won’t be helpful to some playoff hopefuls, but they didn’t have an impact on the top of the standings. Golden State and San Antonio are still the cream of the crop in the Western Conference, with Oklahoma City and Los Angeles seemingly a tier below. Despite the depth additions of Randy Foye for the Thunder and Jeff Green for the Clippers, the balance of power has not shifted even slightly in the West.

If you enjoy parity, the deadline was even more disappointing in the Eastern Conference. The Cleveland Cavaliers have been runaway favorites to win the East all season, and the thought was that either the Toronto Raptors or the Boston Celtics might make a big move to close the skill gap. But both teams stood pat, despite the Celtics currently sitting on seven draft picks for this summer. Meanwhile, the Cavs made a nice addition, replacing broken down Anderson Varejao with Channing Frye.

So with Cleveland destined for the no. 1 seed, the race for who will play them in the first round heated up at the deadline. The Detroit Pistons, Charlotte Hornets, and Washington Wizards all made significant improvements (for them, anyways) to aid their push to qualify for the postseason. Charlotte upgraded its back court with a strong shooter in Courtney Lee and the Wizards acquired talented-but-contentious power forward Markieff Morris.

Detroit had perhaps the best haul, getting younger and more talented by grabbing forward Tobias Harris from Orlando. The Magic, a team many thought would contend for a playoff spot this year, instead decided to shed cap to prepare for free agency, taking back Ersan Ilyasova and Brandon Jennings from Detroit.

The Pistons also added Marcus Thornton and the aforementioned Motiejunas. All told, Detroit’s deadline day was impressive enough to move them from longshots to slightly less longshots on our futures board. Yep, that’s the kind of impactful trade deadline it was! (Ugh, the playoffs can’t get here soon enough.)

Here are our latest NBA futures, as well as the odds from December in parentheses.

2015-16 NBA Title Odds:

• Golden State Warriors: 4/5   (up from 3/2)
• Cleveland Cavaliers: 7/2   (no change)
• San Antonio Spurs: 4/1   (up from 9/2)
• Oklahoma City Thunder: 10/1   (down from 8/1)
• Los Angeles Clippers: 20/1   (no change)
• Toronto Raptors: 30/1   (up from 40/1)
• Boston Celtics: 50/1   (up from 75/1)
• Chicago Bulls: 60/1   (down from 25/1)
• Miami Heat: 60/1   (down from 30/1)
• Atlanta Hawks: 80/1   (down from 30/1)
• Indiana Pacers: 90/1   (down from 40/1)
• Memphis Grizzlies: 100/1   (down from 45/1)
• Detroit Pistons: 100/1   (up from 125/1)
• Houston Rockets: 125/1   (down from 45/1)
• Dallas Mavericks: 125/1   (down from 50/1)
• Washington Wizards: 125/1   (down from 90/1)
• Charlotte Hornets: 200/1   (down from 100/1)
• Utah Jazz: 500/1   (down from 125/1)
• Portland Blazers: 600/1   (down from 250/1)
• Orlando Magic: 1,000/1   (down from 125/1)
• New Orleans Pelicans: 1,000/1   (down from 300/1)
• Sacramento Kings: 1,500/1   (down from 350/1)
• Milwaukee Bucks: 2,000/1   (down from 175/1)
• New York Knicks: 2,000/1   (down from 175/1)
• Denver Nuggets: 5,000/1   (down from 500/1)
• Minnesota Timberwolves: 10,000/1   (down from 500/1)
• Brooklyn Nets: 12,000/1   (down from 1,000/1)
• Phoenix Suns: 15,000/1   (down from 150/1)
• Los Angeles Lakers: 20,000/1   (down from 2,000/1)
• Philadelphia 76ers: 50,000/1   (down from 2,000/1)

(Photo Credit: Keith Allison (Originally uploaded to Flickr)[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/].)