NBA Eastern Conference odds: LeBron, Cavaliers still lead way

There’s an old adage that there’s no such thing as a lock when it comes to sports betting. And that’s true a vast majority of the time, but there are exceptions to every rule. In the NBA, a lock winning bet since the 2010-11 season has been a LeBron James-led team taking the Eastern Conference title.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

That ’10-11 season was LeBron’s first after the infamous “Decision” when he decided to take his talents to South Beach, specifically the Miami Heat. They won four straight Eastern Conference titles with their Big 3 of LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, leading to a pair of NBA championships.

LeBron returned to his native Ohio and the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 2014-15 season and the Cavs have won the past three East titles, going 1-2 in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Thus, it should be no surprise that James’ Cavs are currently -130 favorites to win the East again, even though they only have the third-best record in the conference coming out of the break at 34-22.