Utah Jazz with fifth-best odds to win 2022 NBA Championship

Utah Jazz fans may feel justified in thinking their NBA title hopes are as high as any fanbase’s in the league heading into the 2021-22 season. After all, the squad finished the regular season with the best record in the entire league last season at 52-20.

Granted, the team sputtered in the Western Conference semifinals, losing to the Los Angeles Clippers in six games. It was a devastating loss to be sure, but it was also a fairly easily rationalized one.

For starters, Mike Conley was limited to a single game in the series. The Clippers, of course, were missing Kawhi Leonard for the final two games, but the point generally stands that it’s difficult to imagine how the series may have played out with two healthier rosters.

Moreover, the Clippers infamously exploited the Jazz’s lack of a small-ball center (or, depending who you ask, Quin Snyder’s unwillingness to play Royce O’Neale in that role) by giving Nicolas Batum consistent minutes at the 5 spot. The Utah Jazz rectified that lack of positional versatility this offseason, adding two potential small-ball options in Rudy Gay and Eric Paschall.

Whenever the best regular season team in the NBA fulfills a glaring need, the odds-makers usually take notice. Did WynnBET sell the Jazz’s title odds short?

Analyzing the Utah Jazz and their 2022 title odds

WynnBet has the Jazzmen’s title odds a +1400, which leaves them behind only the Brooklyn Nets (+225), Los Angeles Lakers (+375), Milwaukee Bucks (+900), and Golden State Warriors (+1000).

Frankly, it’s hard to legitimize any substantial gripes with the odds they’ve set. One could make the case that the Utah Jazz deserve better odds than the Golden State Warriors. Most significantly, we haven’t seen all-time three-point threat Klay Thompson play professional basketball since June 2019. Furthermore, James Wiseman underwhelmed over his rookie campaign, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody are both rookies, and even Steph Curry and Draymond Green could both be due for age-related decline (although the safe money is on a superstar-performance from the former).

Nonetheless, the dynastic blood in this roster runs deep, and the Utah Jazz do not roster a single former NBA champion. Realistically, it’s a toss up between the two Western Conference powerhouses. If anything, fans of the Milwaukee Bucks may not be pleased with their substantially lower odds than the revamped Lakers’, given their incumbent champion status.

Utah Jazz fans should love their championship odds heading into the 2021-22 season. The fifth-best odds separate them from 25 other teams across the National Basketball Association. Nonetheless, they’d also be best to recognize that they’re facing an uphill battle.