Instead, they experienced a shocking early playoff exit, getting eliminated by the Minnesota Timberwolves in a five-game first-round series. The defeat devastated the team’s championship aspirations. It also crushed the wallets of thousands of sports bettors who had bet the Lakers heavily all season long.
In the lead-up to the playoffs, the Lakers had quickly become a betting favorite for future-shock gamblers, drawing nearly half of all bets across multiple sportsbooks. All of these bets were made after a significant midseason trade. When the Mavericks signed Luka Doncic, their odds to win the title dropped from 40-1 all the way down to 13-1 at a number of books. That suddenly mattered because as the playoffs started, fans were filling FanDuel’s coffers. Over 25% of all wagers on the finals winning odds were supporting the Lakers.
The Lakers had the second-lowest odds to win the Western Conference. Most considered them the likely championship favorites. Bettors followed suit, leading to extremely one-sided support as they closed almost -200 favorites against the Timberwolves. Then the series ended abruptly, and many players were left holding the bag.
David Purdum has covered the gambling industry since 2008, when he joined ESPN in 2014. He noted that sportsbooks saw a massive increase in action once the trade for Doncic went down. The Lakers were always one of the most popular bets all year long, suggesting a lot of optimism was coming from fans and bettors.
The Oklahoma City Thunder had every reason to falter, yet they stepped up. Notably, as of Thursday morning, ESPN BET had them as the betting favorites to win the Finals at +140. This rapid reversal highlights the volatile nature of sports betting’s landscape.
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