Ohio’s NBA team is off to a flying start and Cleveland Cavaliers odds have seen moneyline wagers pay consistently in the early stages of the 2024-25 NBA season.
In fact, Cleveland’s 10-0 start after 10 games ranked among the 15 best in NBA history, according to data at the Champs or Chumps website.
How does that trend hold up in NBA history? We looked at the top starts in the league to see what the pattern has been for the previous 14 teams off to this good of a start. The Cavs have +1800 odds to win the 2024-25 NBA championship, according to bet365 Ohio Sportsbook. That’s tied for eighth on the operator’s board, so Cleveland’s hot start has not drawn much money yet.
Situation | Number of Teams | Percentage* |
Making The Playoffs | 14 | 100% |
Advanced Past First Round | 11 | 71% |
Reached Conference Finals | 11 | 71% |
Reached NBA Finals | 7 | 50% |
Won Championship | 3 | 21% |
*Rounded to nearest whole number
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The Cavs are now 11-0, winning by an average of 12.5 points per game, through Saturday’s 105-100 victory against the Brooklyn Nets. The run has included three wins over Central Division rivals – two against the Milwaukee Bucks in a home-and-home series in early November, and a win against the Detroit Pistons.
Donovan Mitchell is pacing Cleveland in scoring at 22.5 points per game, followed by fellow guard Darius Garland (20.5 ppg). See our 2024 Cavs starting lineup page for more detail about the team going into tonight’s matchup in Chicago against the Bulls (8 p.m. Eastern tipoff).
Garland, the sixth-year point guard out of Vanderbilt, also leads the team in assists at 6.6 per game. But it’s more than just the top two stars leading the Cavs off to their historic start. Six players are averaging double figures in scoring. Center Jarrett Allen leads the team in rebounds at 11 per game and is shooting 65.6% from the field, third in the league.
Prop bets on individual players for Cavs games are just some of the many wagers available at Ohio sportsbooks today.
According to the ChampsorChumps.us data, this good of a start always leads to a playoff berth at the end of an 82-game season. All 14 teams that started 10-0 have made the playoffs and three of them won the NBA championship, most recently the 1996-97 Bulls. That team, led by the legendary duo of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, began the season 12-0 and finished 69-13, then lost just four playoff games on their way to the trophy.
Anybody looking to extend the research further will find more reasons to back the Cavs for at least making the playoffs at Ohio sports betting app operators.
That’s because, of 67 teams that started an NBA season 9-1 (not including this season), only two missed the playoffs – the 2001-02 Bucks and the 1970-71 Pistons. Out of the 65 teams that qualified for the postseason after starting 9-1, about 32% (or 21 of them) won the championship that season.
The Cavs are once again proving why they belong in the top 10 of best NBA values for fans – see our story about the most cost-efficient NBA teams for more details.
USA Today photo by David Richard
Author
Ohio native Jim Tomlin has 30 years of experience in journalism, mostly in sports. He lends his expertise to BetOhio.com as a writer and editor after previous experience at the Tampa Bay Times, FanRag, Saturday Down South and Saturday Tradition.
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