Boston Celtics title odds: Cs remain favorites despite offseason drama

The Boston Celtics, despite everything that happened in September, remain favorites to win the 2022-23 NBA Championship next June. Boston has +500 odds, right ahead of the defending champion Golden State Warriors, who has +600 odds.

To recap everything that happened during a September to remember for all the wrong reasons, let’s go chronologically. First up was Danilo Gallinari’s ACL tear, which was originally reported as a less serious knee injury. Upon learning of the severity of Gallo’s injury, Cs fans were gutted but hopeful that Sam Hauser could step into that second unit sharpshooting role. That thought held up well during the C’s preseason opener when Hauser shot 4/5 from the 3-point line.

The next massive circumstance is one that could have ramifications for years to come for the organization: the announcement of Ime Udoka’s 2022-23 season-long suspension due to a conduct policy violation. That thrust Joe Mazzulla into the interim head coach role and the endgame of that decision may not be determined for another season or two. By that time, Udoka still won’t be coaching, since many see his relationship with a female staffer — one in which he used crude language — as something that could keep him blackballed from the league forever.

Finally, there were the injuries in the frontcourt. Starter Robert Williams III’s arthroscopic knee surgery will keep him out 8-12 weeks while Luke Kornet’s sprained ankle could keep him out of the preseason and perhaps into the season.

All of the aforementioned elements of a snake-bitten Boston Celtics offseason doesn’t have oddsmakers any less confident in their ability to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy for the first time in 15 years this coming June:

The biggest threat in the east for the Boston Celtics is correctly listed as the Bucks, but the Nets are not the next biggest threat

One thing glaring about theScore’s championship odds are the inclusion of the Brooklyn Nets as the second biggest threat to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference. After an offseason of trade rumors for both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, believing Ben Simmons can somehow elevate the Nets to a championship level is just not believable from the Houdini’s perspective.

With that said, the Milwaukee Bucks are correctly listed as the most viable threat with the return of Khris Middleton. Boston snuck by the Bucks during the 2022 postseason in seven games without him, so it’s possible the 2021 champions could once again get over the hump fully healthy in 2022-23.