Betsided

Are Bulls Being Disrespected in Eastern Conference Odds?

By Matt De Saro

The Chicago Bulls lead the Central Division and are 1.5 games behind the Nets for the lead in the East. So why are they +1500 in the East futures?
The Chicago Bulls lead the Central Division and are 1.5 games behind the Nets for the lead in the East. So why are they +1500 in the East futures? / Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
facebooktwitterreddit

One of the more pleasant surprises of the 2021-22 NBA season has been the new-look Chicago Bulls; sitting at 21-10, and in the No. 2 seed for the Eastern Conference.

Chicago brought in veteran DeMar DeRozan and Lonzo Ball during the offseason to work in tandem with Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic. Each member of the quartet is averaging over 10 points per game with DeRozan leading the charge with 27 PPG.

Along with a strong bench of role players, Chicago leads the Central Division and are just 1.5 games back of the Brooklyn Nets for the top spot in the East and hold a one-game lead on the Milwaukee Bucks. Based on this, one would expect to see the Bulls ranked fairly high in terms of odds to win the East, right? Well, you might want to think again.

Let’s review the current odds to win the 2021-22 Eastern Conference title from WynnBET Sportsbook:

Odds to Win the NBA Eastern Conference

  • Brooklyn Nets | +110
  • Milwaukee Bucks | +350
  • Miami Heat | +700
  • Philadelphia 76ers | +1200
  • Chicago Bulls | +1500
  • Atlanta Hawks | +2000
  • Boston Celtics | +3000
  • Cleveland Cavaliers | +4000

Why are the Bulls, who are second in the conference, the fifth highest team on the odds board? They are five games ahead of the Sixers in the standings and yet are behind them in the betting odds. Chicago is playing well having won their last four games in a row, gone 8-2 in their last 10, and did so with some players out due to COVID as well. But, as of today, Lonzo Ball is the only starting player who is in the health & safety protocols.

So what gives? 

We reached out to WynnBET Senior Trader Motoi Pearson to get his take on why Chicago remains fairly low on the list of candidates to come out of the East.

“The Bulls have been awesome so far this season. Their stellar play hasn’t been surprising to us. We just heavily lean on the Nets or Bucks to win the conference, and it’s hard to believe without injuries of any sort that the Bulls can hang with either of those teams in a 7-game series.”

Whether you agree with Pearson and the rest of the traders at WynnBET, based on the odds right now, Chicago appears to offer massive potential value in the futures betting market and I will be taking a closer look at them heading into 2022.

Home/NBA Betting News