The Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers have pulled off a blockbuster trade at the deadline. They have shipped Larry Nance and Jordan Clarkson to the Cavs for Isaiah Thomas and Channing Frye and a first round pick in the 2018 draft. This frees up a ton of money for the Lakers to go after some big time free agents in the summer. Paul George? Could he be in Laker purple next season?
This should make the rest of this season interesting for the rest of this season. Can they make a playoff run with Thomas at the point? Better yet. What about futures bets for next season? Who will the Lakers have on board by then. Will they be able to make a splash in the summer free agent market? The Lakers sure do look to be an attractive destination with young talent such as Lonzo Ball, Julius Randle, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma.
Where can a Lakers fan go to legally bet on games and futures and well as prop bets? If you live near Las Vegas that is an option for you. There are many legal sports betting venues at various casinos all around the city.
Some of the best places to bet in Vegas include Lagasse’s Stadium at The Palazzo, The Mandalay Bay Sports book, and the Sports book at Caesar’s Palace.
If you plan to visit Vegas, you may want to visit one of these to place your bet on the Lakers. They all have plenty of food, drinks and big TVs to watch the games. If you want to play some poker or blackjack while the games are on, you can do that too.
But what if you are nowhere near Vegas and have no plans to go there? Right now, you can’t legally bet online in the United States (although hopefully it will be legal relatively soon to bet online at casinos and sportsbooks). If you obtain a credit card that allows foreign transactions, there are many websites overseas where you can bet on the Lakers.
Bovada, William Hill, Intertops, SportsBetting, Betonline, and several other sites that operate overseas are able to take casino and sportsbook bets from the United States legally.
After making a deposit, you can go check out the lines of the games of the day at any of these sites. They really make is easy for even novice sport betting fans,
You can bet with the point spread or bet the money-line where all you have to do is pick the winner of the game. If you look at the Clippers at the Pistons game you see that the Clippers are +4 -110. This means if you bet $110 on the Clippers, you get four points. If the Pistons win by three, then you would win $100.
The money line has the Clippers +140. If you take the Clippers and bet $100 and they win, you win $140. If you bet $160 on the Pistons and they win, you win $100.
On Bovada you can also make bets on “futures” such as which team Lebron James will be playing for next season. The Lakers are +500 which means if you place $100 on the Lakers and they sign Lebron in the off-season, you will win $500.
The new-look Lakers should generate a lot of interest for the rest of this season as well. Can they make a playoff push with these new additions? How will the new players mesh with the young guys? What about the players who are no longer there? Will they help the Cavs get back to the Finals again? If they do, can the Cavs win it all?
These questions will offer many opportunities to place your bets as the NBA regular season begins to wind down. Right now, the Lakers are projected to finish somewhere near 34-48 and have a less than one percent chance to make the playoffs. Imagine placing a $50 wager on them getting to the playoff now. If they can get on a run and make it, you would be cashing in big.
It could happen too. There is a lot the season still to be played and teams with young talent can get hot and put it together for a stretch run. The NBA season is a long grind so young legs at the end will surely help the Lakers.
If we look at the other teams who are fighting for the sixth-through-eighth spots, do any of these team scare anyone? Portland, Denver and New Orleans currently hold those three spots. The Clippers and Utah are the only teams ahead of the Lakers after those three. If the Lakers get on a roll, they need only to pass four of those six teams. It’s not like we are asking them to overtake the Warriors, Rockets, or even the Spurs here. This could happen.
The Pelicans are already going to be without Demarcus Cousins for the rest of the season. The Clippers have dumped Blake Griffin. Quick, name any three Denver Nuggets or Utah Jazz players? Catching the Trail Blazers might be difficult, but if they catch the rest of these teams, it won’t matter. If the Lakers can get on a little winning streak right before the All Star break, things could start snowballing from there (pardon the pun). We really can see the Lakers pulling this off. Let’s face it, the playoffs are always better when the Lakers are inn them. So the NBA should be on board.
If Lonzo Ball is a young star-in-the-making like most believe he is, then he will step up his game down the stretch. That could make things in Los Angeles very exciting. Imagine if they can sneak past the Clippers for the eighth and final spot, then take on the Warriors or Rockets in the first round. You’d have plenty of extra cash to place bets on the Lakers pulling off a huge upset.
