NBA Pacific Division Preview: Suns and Clippers Favored to Win Division
Evaluating the Pacific Division Odds Prior to the 2022-23 Season
NBA Pacific Division Preview: Despite winning the NBA title last season, the Golden State Warriors aren’t the favorite to win the Pacific division this year. In fact, both the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers are ahead of them in the NBA divisional standings. The Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings both failed to make the postseason last year and find themselves at the bottom of the odds board again this year. Let’s dive into the Pacific Division Preview and see where we can find some value.
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Phoenix Suns
- Division Odds: +185
- Conference Odds: +500
- NBA Championship Odds: +1000
- Season Projected Win Total: 52.5
Last season was supposed to be the Sun’s year to win the title. They set a franchise record, winning 64 regular season games and were primed for a deep postseason run. That all came crashing down when they got blown out by the Dallas Mavericks in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals. While they have nearly the same roster intact, we don’t love them as a team we’d bet on to win the division. The offseason brought a lot of turmoil with the Suns trying to trade Deandre Ayton and now Jae Crowder is sitting out while he waits to be traded.
Ayton had issues with head coach Monty Williams towards the end of last season, and according to reports from Ayton at Media Day, the two sides have yet to hash out their feelings. Crowder being on the trading block is a big deal because outside of Chris Paul… Crowder is the team’s veteran leader and a strong locker room guy. If the Suns do decide to get rid of him, we’re a bit worried about the chemistry of this team and how that could negatively affect them throughout the season.
The offseason brought a lot of turmoil with the Suns trying to trade Deandre Ayton and now Jae Crowder is sitting out while he waits to be traded.
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Los Angeles Clippers
- Division Odds: +185
- Conference Odds: +325
- NBA Championship Odds: +650
- Season Projected Win Total: 52.5
The Los Angeles Clippers are tied with the Suns for the best odds to win the division, but we think they deserve to be the sole favorite. Kawhi Leonard is back and healthy this season after missing all of last year with an injury. It’s always a question as to what a player will look like coming off of a serious injury, but if Leonard is anything like the player he’s been in previous seasons, the Clippers are in good hands.
LA also signed John Wall in the offseason who is likely to take over as the team’s starting point guard. Wall hasn’t played since April of 2021, so just like Leonard, we’ll have to wait and see what his game looks like after such a long absence. However, pair those two next to Paul George who carried this team last season and the Clippers are going to be a dangerous team. They also have a ton of depth with Reggie Jackson, Norman Powell, Nicolas Batum and Robert Covington coming off the bench. Not to mention Ty Lue is one of the best coaches in the Association right now. If this Los Angeles team can play to their potential this season, a future on them to win the division, conference or championship isn’t a bad look.
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Golden State Warriors
- Division Odds: +190
- Conference Odds: +325
- NBA Championship Odds: +600
- Season Projected Win Total: 52.5
The Warriors are going to be competitors once again this season, which is why even though they’re ranked third in division odds, they have the highest odds of any team in the Pacific to win the NBA championship. Their core All-Stars of Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson all return, but they lost two solid role players in Otto Porter Jr. and Gary Payton II. While both those players excelled in their individual roles last season, players like Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga and James Wiesman should take another step in their development this season, in which case the Warriors might not miss Porter and Payton. As long as this team can stay healthy – something they struggled with last season – they should have an opportunity to make another title run.
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Los Angeles LakersÂ
- Division Odds: +850
- Conference Odds: +700
- NBA Championship Odds: +18000
- Season Projected Win Total: 45.5
The Lakers are a major question mark once again this season. They have arguably the best player in NBA history in LeBron James and an All-Star in Anthony Davis, so you’d think they’re a team primed for success. However, that wasn’t exactly the case last season. Russell Westbrook is still on the team and unless he changes his playing style to better fit with James and Anthony, the Lakers might be in trouble again. Their depth is a little bit better than last season but still not anything great. Lakers fans would probably like to believe that last season’s 33-49 record was just a fluke, but unless new head coach Darvin Ham makes major changes as to how this group plays together, this team might be in for another disappointing season.
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Sacramento KingsÂ
- Division Odds: +25000
- Conference Odds: +25000
- NBA Championship Odds: +50000
- Season Projected Win Total: 34.5
The Sacramento Kings are an interesting team because they have some solid talent in Domantas Sabonis, De’Aaron Fox, Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter. But that’s the thing, outside of Sabonis, none of these players are All-Stars or players that we could see carrying a team. The Kings did draft Keegan Murray from Iowa with the fourth pick in the 2022 NBA Draft and he looked great in Summer League. He’s a young player that will come in and start at the power forward position right away and we could definitely make a case for him to win Rookie of the Year with the second shortest odds to win at +425. Sacramento has a new coach this season in Mike Brown. While he’s a veteran in the industry, any team with a new coach is bound to go through some growing pains early in the season. All in all, we would stay away from placing any money on a future on this team.
you can expect to see the of the NBA point spread at PS!
