Unique NBA restart format has little effect on futures odds to win championship

There was essentially no reason for William Hill sportsbook futures odds to win the 2020 NBA title to change all that much at the top even with the league announcing the season would restart July 31 at a neutral site in Orlando with 22 teams playing eight regular-season games each before a usual postseason format. Thus, the Los Angeles Lakers (+240), Milwaukee Bucks (+260) and Los Angeles Clippers (+320) remain the clear-cut moneyline favorites to win it all.

The Bucks are clear winners in that the playoff format is unchanged. There was talk that NBA commissioner Adam Silver might go to a postseason that seeded teams 1-16 regardless of conference. In that scenario, Milwaukee might have had to play a very dangerous team like Portland or New Orleans in the first round and beat both powerhouse Los Angeles teams to win a title.

Now, just one L.A. team could be an opponent in the NBA Finals. The Bucks as things stand now would open against an overmatched Orlando Magic team in the first round – although it's possible the Magic could pass the Brooklyn Nets for the East's seventh seed. 

Brooklyn is priced +4000 and by record alone (30-34) the Nets would be much longer shots, but William Hill is hedging a bit on the possible return of Kevin Durant (not likely).  

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There is zero chance Milwaukee loses the top seed in the East as it has a 6.5-game lead over Toronto with only eight to play. Yes, it's a bummer for the Bucks and their fans to lose potential home-court advantage throughout the playoffs with all games being played at Disney World. Milwaukee was an NBA-best 28-3 at home (19-12 against the spread) compared to a more mortal 25-9 away (17-16 ATS).

One sad fact is that there will be no potential Lakers-Clippers Western Conference Finals played in Los Angeles. Perhaps it's better to be at a neutral site since they share the same gym. The franchises have never met in the postseason. The Clippers have a 1.5-game lead over Denver to keep the No. 2 seed in the West. The Lakers are 5.5 games up on the Clippers.

If the season begins as planned on July 31, it will have been a 142-day layoff since the last NBA games on March 11. That's a longer layoff than any of the last three offseasons, when the league moved up its start date to mid-October.