NBA Finals Heat vs. Lakers Vegas spread, betting odds: LeBron James has not been good Finals wager against the spread

Rather amazingly, LeBron James will play in his 10th all-time NBA Finals starting Wednesday night from the Orlando bubble against the Miami Heat. It's LeBron's first trip with the Los Angeles Lakers and his teams are 3-6 in the Finals. James has become the fourth player in NBA history to reach the Finals at least 10 times, joining Bill Russell, Sam Jones and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Lakers are 4.5-point favorites on the William Hill NBA odds, and history says it might be wise to bet against LeBron.

In his previous nine Finals trip with the Cleveland Cavaliers (2007, 2015-18) and Miami Heat (2011-14), James is just 18-31 straight up in Finals games and 19-28-2 against the spread. While favorites have covered Game 1 in 13 of the past 15 Finals, the two ATS losses were by LeBron's teams.

Now, to be fair LeBron's teams entered as series favorites just twice overall: Miami at -220 vs. San Antonio in 2013 (the Heat should have lost that series in six but won in 7) and Miami at -175 vs. Dallas in 2011 (the Mavs won in six for Dirk Nowitzki's lone championship). James is the first player to reach the Finals with five different head coaches in NBA history.

On the William Hill series line vs. Miami, the Lakers are -360 and the Heat +280. The favored exact series score is Lakers winning in five at +280, while the long shot is a Heat sweep at +6500.

LeBron's teams have been game favorites 17 times in Finals games and they are 9-8 straight up and 9-7-1 ATS. To little surprise, James is the -140 favorite to win fourth NBA Finals MVP. That would put him solo second all-time behind Michael Jordan's six. When talking about LeBron as the GOAT over Jordan, consider that MJ's Bulls teams were not only 6-0 all-time in the NBA Finals but never even played a Game 7.

One interesting tidbit about the 2020 Finals: Guard Dion Waiters is eligible to receive a ring no matter which team wins. He's currently with the Lakers (rarely plays) but began the season with the Heat, so it's at their discretion whether to give Waiters one if they pull off the upset.

William Hill NBA Finals MVP favorites

• LeBron James -140
• Anthony Davis +225
• Jimmy Butler +900
• Bam Adebayo +1200
• Goran Dragic +3000
• Tyler Herro +3000

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