Durant Injury Could Change Betting Landscape

The Oklahoma City Thunder recently announced that Kevin Durant will be out “indefinitely.”

“Right now, we’ve decided to take him off the floor so the people who are the experts can make the [medical] determination,” Sam Presti, Thunder general manager, said. “When he’s able to play without that soreness, he’ll be back on the floor.”

The Atlanta Hawks opened as 1.5-point favorites against the Thunder earlier today in a game scheduled for tonight. Those odds are unlikely to shift as Durant was unlikely to play when those odds were posted. Durant has been off the court since February.

The Thunder’s road to the playoffs just got a lot more hazardous. The Thunder are currently 8-1 to win the NBA Championship this year. That is good enough for the fourth best odds in the NBA. With Durant down, those odds will likely plummet to around 20/1.

The chance that the Thunder does not even make it to the playoffs is also a possibility. They are currently the No.8 seeded team in the West with New Orleans and Phoenix hot on their heels.

While it is still too early to tell and future betting odds will not change still for the next couple of days, expect the Thunder to be playing from underdog positions more often and their Championship odds to begin to fall.

Durant has been shut down from all basketball activity with “no timetable” for his return. Durant has only played 27 games this season.

Durant went in for surgery to replace a screw in his right foot, which was surgically repaired during preseason, on Feb. 23. He has not played since that time.

Russell Westbrook has stepped up in Durant’s abscene and has made a case for 2015 MVP. The million-dollar question is, is Westbrook enough for the Thunder to make a championship run.