Las Vegas sportsbook gives Knicks 500-1 odds to win the title this season

Not to punch you in the face for no reason whatsoever, but the Knicks are going to be among the very worst teams in the NBA and have almost no shot to win the title this season, according to the Westgate Sportsbook in Las Vegas.

Westgate has the Knicks at 500-1 odds to win the championship, which means a $100 bet could technically score $50,000 in winnings. That’s enough money to buy 125 in-ground basketball hoops for $400 apiece, which at first doesn’t sound like that many hoops for $50,000, but starts to seem more reasonable when you think of it as 62 full courts plus one extra hoop that can go wherever you’d like. Still, no matter how you slice it, the moral of the story here is that high-quality basketball hoops are freakin’ expensive.

Where were we? Ah yes, the Knicks, at 500-1, are tied with the Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons for worst title odds. The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers have the best odds (7-2), followed by the Milwaukee Bucks (5-1) Los Angeles Clippers (11-2) and Brooklyn Nets (6-1).

When it comes to win totals, the Knicks are, unsurprisingly, also at the bottom of the barrel. The Knicks and Cavs are each projected to finish the 72-game season at 22 ½ victories, tied for worst in the league. Teams projected to be just a little better than the Knicks include the Pistons (23.5 wins), Hornets (25.5 wins) and Oklahoma City Thunder (23.5 wins).

The Knicks are unlikely to take a leap this season, and lots of losing should be expected because the team is so young. But the front office has maintained flexibility while adding potentially helpful veterans like Nerlens Noel, Alec Burks and Austin Rivers. Plus, Tom Thibodeau should be a much sturdier leader than the franchise’s last few coaches. So it wouldn’t be insane to see the Knicks improve from what they were last year.

Only time will tell whether the 2020-21 Knicks might coalesce into a competent squad, but obviously Westgate thinks the team’s offseason has been lackluster.

Amusingly, last year Westgate predicted the Knicks were a good bet to win it all, giving them 16-1 odds to win the title. Only five teams were given better odds. That projection was based on the idea that the Knicks were about to sign a couple max free agents, which is something that, regrettably, didn’t come to fruition.