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According to Clippers beat writer for the Southern California News Group Elliot Teaford (he’s the new Dan Woike, follow him on twitter), Bovada has released the odds for teams to finish in first place in their respective conference and division. The Clippers have 66/1 odds to win the Western Conference, and 20/1 odds to win the Pacific Division.
Per Bovada, the #Clippers odds are 66/1 to win the Western Conference and 20/1 to win the Pacific Division.
— Elliott Teaford (@ElliottTeaford) September 27, 2017
These long odds are far from surprising, as the Clippers share the Western Conference and Pacific Division with the Golden State Warriors, who are quite possibly the best team in the history of the NBA. In case you’d forgotten, in the last three years they’ve got three #1 seeds, a record-breaking 73-9 season, three NBA Finals appearances, and two NBA Championships. So, yeah.
A handful of other teams, such as the Spurs, Rockets, Thunder, and Timberwolves, are all also considered more likely to win the Western Conference than the Clippers, but those margins are much smaller—it’s the Warriors and everyone else in both the NBA and the Western Conference this season, just as it has been for the past few years.