{"id":108602,"date":"2019-07-07T05:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-07-07T12:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=108602"},"modified":"2019-07-07T02:25:48","modified_gmt":"2019-07-07T09:25:48","slug":"la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/","title":{"rendered":"LA Clippers Become NBA Title Favorites After Landing Leonard, George in Shocking Deals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA Free Agency sweepstakes featured one whopper of a finish this weekend as a surprise suitor ended up not only nabbing one of the biggest names in the game but a critical complementary player as well to become the new favorite to win next year\u2019s title.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Paul George, left, seen here guarding Kawhi Leonard will now become his teammate as the Clippers made big deals this weekend to bring both to Los Angeles. (Image: CBS Sports)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

News broke early Saturday that Kawhi Leonard, fresh off leading Toronto to its first championship, would leave the Raptors and head to his native southern California and play for the Los Angeles Clippers. However, not only were the Clippers getting the two-time Finals Most Valuable Player, but they were also making a trade with Oklahoma City to land Paul George.<\/p>\n

The news came as a shock as many insiders and reporters indicated Leonard was deciding<\/a> between staying with the Raptors and playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n

Combined, George and Leonard averaged more than 54 points a game last season as they both finished among the top six in scoring average. That gives the Clippers a tandem to rival other teams, including the Lakers’ Anthony Davis and LeBron James.<\/p>\n

Title Odds Clipped<\/h2>\n

When news of the Lakers landing Davis<\/a> broke last month, sportsbooks installed them as the title favorites for next year. Caesars dropped them from 20-1 odds in May to 7-2 after the trade became public, and the Westgate SuperBook made the Lakers its top choice at 3-1.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the other Los Angeles team took over the top spot at most books. PointsBet opened the day making the Clippers +200 favorites, although the odds increased to +320 later in the day. At the Westgate SuperBook, the Clippers went from a slept on 16-1 choice without Leonard and George to 3-1 favorites with them.<\/p>\n

(S)ince July 2, we sold 1 ticket on the Clippers at 16\/1 … for $10 … that\u2019s all folks,\u201d<\/strong> tweeted Jeff Sherman, the SuperBook’s vice president of risk management.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As of midday Saturday, the Lakers remained the SuperBook\u2019s top team according to the number of bets made and the money wagered. More than an eighth of the title tickets sold have been for the Lakers, and those tickets account for 41 percent of all title wagers, Sherman said.<\/p>\n

FanDuel previously listed the Clippers at +1400. On Saturday, those odds became +290.<\/p>\n

Not everyone, though, immediately put the Clippers to the top. William Hill\u2019s US sportsbook kept the Lakers, who ended up signing DeMarcus Cousins and Leonard\u2019s Raptors teammate Danny Green on Saturday, as the favorites at +300, but the Clippers were right behind them at +350.<\/p>\n

Leonard Needed a Partner<\/h2>\n

According to an ESPN<\/em> report, the Clippers, who share the Staples Center with the Lakers, felt they needed to make a move on Leonard to keep the Lakers from acquiring him and establishing a potential dynasty.<\/p>\n

However, Leonard made it clear that he needed another player to come with him. Reports circulated that he approached Kevin Durant about teaming up together in LA, but when Durant chose to go to Brooklyn, Leonard sought out George.<\/p>\n

\n

The Clippers will pay Leonard more than $140 million over the next four years, according to reports. And they\u2019ll pay an even steeper price for George, who still has at least two years left on his current contract. The trade included at least four unprotected first-round draft picks between 2021 and 2026, meaning the Clippers are potentially mortgaging their future for a title run over the next couple years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

However, for a franchise long considered a laughingstock in the league, team officials understood they needed to make the deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NBA Free Agency sweepstakes featured one whopper of a finish this weekend as a surprise suitor ended up not only nabbing one of the biggest names in the game but a critical complementary player as well to become the new favorite to win next year\u2019s title. News broke early Saturday that Kawhi Leonard, fresh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":108603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLA Clippers Become NBA Title Favorites After Landing Leonard, George<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The other basketball team in Los Angeles made big news with the signing of Kawhi Leonard and the trade for Paul George and became contenders as a result.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LA Clippers Become NBA Title Favorites After Landing Leonard, George\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The other basketball team in Los Angeles made big news with the signing of Kawhi Leonard and the trade for Paul George and became contenders as a result.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-07T12:00:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-07-07T09:25:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Leonard-George.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/\",\"name\":\"LA Clippers Become NBA Title Favorites After Landing Leonard, George\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Leonard-George.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-07T12:00:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-07T09:25:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"The other basketball team in Los Angeles made big news with the signing of Kawhi Leonard and the trade for Paul George and became contenders as a result.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Leonard-George.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Leonard-George.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"(Image: CBS Sports)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Sports\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/sports\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"LA Clippers Become NBA Title Favorites After Landing Leonard, George in Shocking Deals\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\",\"name\":\"Steve Bittenbender\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Steve Bittenbender\"},\"description\":\"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"LA Clippers Become NBA Title Favorites After Landing Leonard, George","description":"The other basketball team in Los Angeles made big news with the signing of Kawhi Leonard and the trade for Paul George and became contenders as a result.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"LA Clippers Become NBA Title Favorites After Landing Leonard, George","og_description":"The other basketball team in Los Angeles made big news with the signing of Kawhi Leonard and the trade for Paul George and became contenders as a result.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-07-07T12:00:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-07-07T09:25:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Leonard-George.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Bittenbender","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Bittenbender","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/","name":"LA Clippers Become NBA Title Favorites After Landing Leonard, George","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Leonard-George.jpg","datePublished":"2019-07-07T12:00:45+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-07T09:25:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2"},"description":"The other basketball team in Los Angeles made big news with the signing of Kawhi Leonard and the trade for Paul George and became contenders as a result.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Leonard-George.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Leonard-George.jpg","width":1200,"height":675,"caption":"(Image: CBS Sports)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-clippers-become-nba-title-favorites-after-landing-leonard-george\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sports","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/sports\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"LA Clippers Become NBA Title Favorites After Landing Leonard, George in Shocking Deals"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2","name":"Steve Bittenbender","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","caption":"Steve Bittenbender"},"description":"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108602"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}