Brooklyn Nets’ 2020 NBA Championship Odds Listed at 25-1 After Trading Crabbe to Free Up Cap Space

• Brooklyn Nets deal puts them in position for massive summer spending spree
• Will Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant find their way to Brooklyn?
• What is the best early bet for 2020 NBA Champion?

So much for talk of Kevin Durant making a return to the NBA Finals in Game 4 (which, if you’re wondering is a no-go).

Today’s latest maneuver out of the New York area now has the conversation shifting, to where he’ll be in four weeks.

2019-20 NBA Championship Odds

*Odds taken 06/06/2019. Click the link in the table for the full list of teams.

The Nets getting out from under that albatross of a contract in a trade with the Hawks now makes them major players this offseason, as it created the room for two max salary slots to acquire free agents.

Nets are trading Allen Crabbe, No. 17 pick and a protected first in 2020 to the Hawks for Taurean Prince and a 2021 second-rounder, per @wojespn pic.twitter.com/UccGed1p0U

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 6, 2019

Is a KD-Kyrie Irving union happening in Brooklyn? And is that speculation enticing enough to lay down some distant Nets odds to win the 2020 title?

Nets Transformation to Real Players Complete

Regardless if they land the big fishes or not, we should tip our cap to the Brooklyn front office for finally digging themselves out of a massive basketball grave.

It was six long years ago that an ambitious new ownership group decided to mortgage the farm to the more-than-willing Boston Celtics in a move that netted them Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry. If they weren’t already past their primes yet, they were gamesaway from being so. Coming the other way? Four first-round draft picks amid a bunch of fodder.

The picks from the 2013 nets-Celtics trade:

Picks Nets traded away:
No. 17 pick in 2014: James Young
No. 3 pick in 2016: Jaylen Brown
No. 1 pick in 2017, Markelle Fultz
No. 8 pick in 2018, Colin Sexton

Picks Nets received:
No. 22 pick in 2017: Jarrett Allen

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— Bot Loblaw (@Botweezy) February 7, 2019

But under the guidance of general manager Sean Marks, and with no first round draft picks to call their own, Brooklyn found a way to rebuild, taking high-draft reclamation projects, trading for teams’ big-ticket contracts tied to promising young players and draft capital and also taking fliers on players that were looking for an opportunity.

Their core nucleus – still to be determined by how the offseason shakes out – consists of real roster pieces like D’Angelo Russell, Caris Levert, Joe Harris, Spencer Dinwiddie, Jarrett Allen and Rodions Kurucs.

It will really be wild if the Nets, who everyone thought were decimated by Danny Ainge, take Kyrie from the Celtics and build a contender around him.

— Jay King (@ByJayKing) June 6, 2019

And with that trade of Crabbe and his $18.5 million contract? About $68 million in cap space to do whatever they want. Fittingly, their first first-round pick in six years was moved in the deal. But this time, the asset isn’t close to matching the potential reward.

If Irving is a Lock, Who Joins Him?

While nothing is for certain, it seems that Kyrie Irving’s Boston days are done.

Kyrie is “serious” about the Nets this summer, per @wojespn pic.twitter.com/dgn5IuqOIU

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 6, 2019

In the positionless new NBA, it’s entirely possible that Irving will team with Brooklyn’s all-star Russell, who is a restricted free agent this summer. That alone gives the Nets one of the best backcourts in basketball, full stop.

BREAKING: David Griffin and the #Pelicans have begun listening to teams about potential trade including Anthony Davis, per our insider @ShamsCharania. pic.twitter.com/nXAg8It2uS

— Stadium (@Stadium) June 4, 2019

But who else can join the party? Well, wouldn’t you know, even landing the first overall pick and potential franchise-altering god Zion Williamson, Anthony Davis and his unibrow still want out of town.

I feel like this is said as a joke more than anything, but it aligns with what I’ve heard: the Nets are confident in their ability to convince Kevin Durant on Brooklyn. https://t.co/A3LxFpuQnX

— Billy Reinhardt (@BillyReinhardt) June 5, 2019

If that plan doesn’t come together, there’s also Durant, who, despite leaving basketball purgatory in OKC and finding basketball nirvana in Golden State, continues to miss one thing that it appears he so desperately craves: basketball respect.

Brooklyn keeps them out of the Knicks mess and media, essential for the pair, who’ve had a somewhat icy go of it with media this past season.

Is Brooklyn Worthy of a Championship Wager?

This is close to the last chance to get in on the ground floor with +2500 odds and I like the value.

Be warned though: the truth is no one really knows what’s going to happen. Kyrie + KD or AD would be nice, but what if they only get Kyrie, and use the other money on good-not-great studs like Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris?

Knicks have 2 max slots. Nets have 2 max slots. Clippers have a path to get 2 max slots. Lakers have a max slot plus the No. 4 pick & assets to make major move.

Get ready.

— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) June 6, 2019

There are two other picks I really like: for some reason, I feel like the Lakers are going to land something this summer, and +2500 on a LeBron team? Count me in. I also believe Kawhi Leonard is staying in Toronto, which makes +1000 odds seem a little long too.