Who are the favorites with the new look NBA after All-Star Break?

There are some teams that will hardly be recognizable when the NBA returns to action on Thursday night. We saw some blockbuster trades go down in the weeks leading up to All-Star weekend and now there has been a shift of power and in odds as we head into the the final month and a half of the regular season.

Before play gets started, we take a look at MGM Grands favorites to win the title.

1) Boston Celtics (4.00)

The Boston Celtics went to the NBA Finals last year with essentially the same team they have this season, and now they are looking like the favorites to win it all according to the sports books. When you look at their squad from top to bottom it is the deepest most complete team. They have a super star in Jayson Tatum, his super side kick in Jaylen Brown, some defensive masterminds in Marcus Smart and Robert Williams and role players like Derrick White who can step into the spot light and win games. The Cs come out of the break with the best record in the league and are rightful favorites to take the title.

2) Phoenix Suns (5.25)

No one made a bigger jump up the boards than the Phoenix Suns over the last few weeks. The Suns currently sit in fifth in the Western Conference, and it seemed like their moment in the sun (excuse the cheesy metaphor) was fading. Chris Paul and Devin Booker had the best record in the league last year, and the second best record in the league the year before that. This season it has seemed like something is missing, but not anymore.

A blockbuster trade with the Brooklyn Nets brought Kevin Durant in to add to the Sun’s firepower, and they have become one of the favorites in the West, and are sure to shoot up the conference standings.

3) Milwaukee Bucks (6.50)

As long as the Bucks have Giannis Antetokounmpo they are going to be in the running for the NBA Title. They have the Greek Freak, All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday and one of the best shooters in the league in Khris Middleton. Of the top 7 favorites in the mind of the odds makers, they are the only ones with a title in recent memory.

The departure of Brooklyn’s Big Two has made the Eastern Conference a three horse race, and they have already shown they can beat both the Celtics and the 76ers.

4) Denver Nuggets (8.00)

The Denver Nuggets finally are finally showing just how good of a team they can be when they have a full squad at their disposal. Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. are back in action and 100% and that has taken some of the load off of Nikola Jokic’s shoulders.

They not only lead the Western Conference coming out of the All-Star break, but their 41 wins set a franchise record for most wins through this point in this season. Jokic is averaging a triple double and looks on pace to win a third straight MVP award, and if the Nugs can stay on top of the West and get to the Finals it will only help his case.

5) LA Clippers (11.00)

The Clippers were one of the dark horses coming into this season. They would finally have Kawhi Leonard and Paul George together on the court after Leonards knee injury forced him to miss more than a full calendar year.

The Clippers were a pesky side that went all the way to the Conference Finals two years ago before losing out to the Suns. With no Kawhi last year they missed the playoffs, but their title dreams became even more of a reality with the news that Russell Westbrook will be joining the Clips, and he will be looking for redemption after flopping for the Lakers over the last year and a half.

6) Philadelphia 76ers (12.00)

The experiment continues. Joel Embiid and James Harden are coming up on a full year together after last year’s midseason trade brought The Beard to the City of Brotherly Love. Embiid is an MVP candidate once again, and he and Harden’s is leading the league in assists at 10.8 a game.

Philly are currently three games back of the Celtics, and two and a half games behind the Bucks. The Sixers will need role players like Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris to step up deep into the regular season and into the postseason, but Philadelphia’s title chances lay on the shoulders of their two super stars who have never won a title before.

7) Dallas Mavericks (17.00)

The Mavs were the first team to really shake things up in the trade deadline. A year after reaching the Western Conference Finals, there was pressure on Luka Doncic and Jason Kidd to replicate the run. It wasn’t exactly the follow up season that Dallas was looking for in the first few months of the season. Doncic may be the leading scorer in the league, but that wasn’t enough to keep the Mavs towards the top of the table in the West.

They brought in Kyrie Irving after a sluggish start to the season, looking to recover some of that magic from last year. They dealt a lot to Brooklyn to land Kyrie in their “all-in” midseason transaction, and now they hope it pays off. Doncic and Irving have only played two games together, and the Mavs lost both of those games. The chemistry will grow over the next month and a half, and Dallas could be a dangerous team once the post season comes rolling around.

8) Golden State Warriors (17.00)

The flame might be burning out on the Golden State Warriors dynasty. Their big three and dominated the league for the last decade, but Steve Kerr’s side will come out of the All-Star break with in 9th place, with a record of 29-29 and Steph Curry still on the mend after suffering a leg injury in early February. It’s true that the way the West is at the moment, they are only 3.5 games away from being third in the conference.

Curry will come back, and we know that all the Warriors need to do is get in the playoffs. Once they are in the playoffs their Big Three know how to win, no matter what their seed it, no matter who they play and no matter where the game is. Remember, they still have never lost a series in which Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry started and finished a series healthy. At 17-1, that is a pretty tempting bet.