Episode 12 of the Sports Betting Tips podcast is live. This week, veteran journalist Chris Sheridan is joined by Moke Hamilton of The Athletic and former NCAA coach Bobby Gonzalez. The trio cover a wide range of basketball topics, including everything from the international game to handicapping the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA.
This episode is sponsored by BetDSI Sportsbook, which is now open to the U.S. market. Use promo code BBALL1000 for a free $25 wager.
The trio started with the international side of things, debate whether the league could handle international expansion.
“I’ve been making the case on Twitter in recent days that if the NBA is going to expand, they could expand and go into Seattle or Las Vegas, but they could go overseas and add six teams”, says Sheridan. The logic makes sense as some of the overseas leagues have improved in quality in recent years. There are good teams in Spain, France and even China. More importantly, the sport itself has become more popular in some of those places and now players can go there. With bigger audiences at the games, some players can actually make more money in places like China than in the United States.
While the debate shifted to Americans playing in Europe and China for a while, it eventually circled back to the NBA where the crew discussed the Oklahoma City Thunder and their prospects for the 2018-19 season.
“I think they’re right there with the teams at the top”, say Hamilton in response to where he believes the Thunder will finish in the Western Conference. “In terms of teams that have improved themselves the most in the offseason, the Thunder are right there.”
The Thunder are currently at +2500 to win the Western Conference and +6000 to win the title. They managed to keep Paul George in a Thunder uniform this offseason, signing him to a long-term extension when many expected he’d depart. They also managed to cut ties with Carmelo Anthony, who had been a poor fit for the team.
To hear the full conversation with the guys, click the link above to play and make sure to subscribe to be notified for future episodes.
