What oddsmakers are projecting for the Celtics and their stars in the upcoming season
Boston has the best odds of winning the title.
The 2022-23 NBA season is only days away.
The Celtics actually play in the season’s opening matchup when they host the 76ers on Tuesday. While Tuesday’s game is against one of Boston’s top foes this season, it’s just the start of an 82-game marathon before what the Celtics hope is a long playoff run.
Oddsmakers like the Celtics to make another deep playoff run in the upcoming season, as well. Here’s what sportsbooks are projecting for the Celtics in the upcoming season.
Team odds
Win total: 53.5
The Celtics have the highest win total among the 30 NBA teams on DraftKings Sportsbook, though the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, and Phoenix Suns are right behind them with a win total set at 52.5.
Boston had the second-most wins in the Eastern Conference last season, winning 51 games. After it began the season 25-25, it went 26-6 to close the season — a 67-win pace over the course of an 82-game season.
The Celtics have hit the over in the win total in two of the last five seasons though they were on pace to do it in the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season.
Championship odds: +600
Boston is at the top of the title odds list on DraftKings, though it has a pair of co-favorites. The Warriors and Clippers both have +600 odds of winning the title, too. The Celtics were the lone favorite on many sportsbooks throughout much of the offseason, but the suspension of Ime Udoka and Robert Williams’ injury that’ll force him to miss the start of the season might have affected a change in the odds.
The preseason favorite to win the title has won the championship just once in the last five seasons, though the Lakers were right behind the Clippers in 2019-20 when they won it all.
Player props
Jayson Tatum: +1400 to win MVP (sixth-best odds); +2500 to win Defensive Player of the Year; +190 to make the All-NBA first team; +3000 to win the scoring title (10th-best odds); over/under 26.9 points per game.
DraftKings projects Tatum to have another strong season in 2022-23. The Celtics’ young forward had a career year in 2021-22, scoring a career-high 26.9 points per game to help him earn a spot on the All-NBA first team. He finished sixth in MVP voting.
Tatum also had a strong defensive season to help lead the Celtics to have the league’s best defense last year, though oddsmakers like his chances of winning the scoring title more. Reasonably so, Tatum finished seventh in scoring last season.
Jaylen Brown: +14,000 to win MVP; +30,000 to win Defensive Player of the Year; +2500 to make the All-NBA first team; +20,000 to win the scoring title; over/under 23.8 points per game.
Brown’s also projected to have another strong year, though isn’t seen as a likely candidate to win any of the major awards, likely due to Tatum, Marcus Smart, and Robert Williams’ presence.
But Brown still has odds listed to win each of the major awards that’d he be eligible for in theory. Brown scored 23.6 points per game last season and had a 24.7 points per game the year prior, when he made his first and only All-Star Game.
Marcus Smart: +70,000 to win MVP; +1800 to win Defensive Player of the Year (tied for the seventh-best odds); +30,000 to lead the league in assists.
A year after winning Defensive Player of the Year, Smart isn’t projected to win it for a second-straight season. He was the first guard to win the award in 26 seasons last year. It’s been 34 years since a guard received the award in back-to-back seasons, when Michael Cooper and Michael Jordan won it in 1986-87 and 1987-88, respectively.
Offensively, Smart had one of the best seasons of his career last season — his first as the Celtics’ full-time starting point guard. He averaged 5.9 assists per game, which ranked 17th in the league.
Robert Williams: +5000 to win Most Improved Player; +1100 to win Defensive Player of the Year (tied for the fourth-best odds); +3500 to make the All-NBA first team; +15,000 to lead the league in rebounds.
The Celtics’ center has good odds of being in the mix for several awards, which is interesting because he’s expected to miss at least the first month of the season and potentially more. Williams was ruled out for 8-to-12 weeks following surgery on his knee in late September.
If Williams was healthy though to start the season, a lot of these odds would reasonable. He was arguably the best defensive player on the best defensive team last season, averaging 2.2 blocks per game to help him finish seventh in Defensive Player of the Year voting. He averaged 9.6 rebounds per game, which was the 15th-best mark in the league.
Malcolm Brogdon: +1100 to win 6th Man of the Year (tied for the fourth-best odds); +30,000 to lead the league in assists.
The addition of Brogdon is what made the Celtics the title favorite in many sportsbooks over the summer. He scored 18.9 points and averaged 6.3 assists per game as the Pacers’ starting point guard over the last three seasons.
Coming off the bench, Brogdon could be exactly what the Celtics need to help them get over the hump and win the NBA Finals. But as it pertains to the regular season, he’ll get a chance to be the scoring punch off the bench Boston lacked for much of last season while also providing secondary creation and scoring when he plays with the starting unit.
Joe Mazzulla: +1200 to win Coach of the Year
Following the suspension of Udoka, Mazzulla was thrown straight into a situation that many might see as too big of a spotlight for him. At 34, he’s the youngest coach in the league. He’s also only spent three seasons as an assistant coach in the NBA (all three were with the Celtics) and his only head coaching experience came with Fairmont State, a Division II school Mazzulla coached at for two seasons.
Coaches in their first year at a new job have done well though in winning this award. A coach has won the award in their first season at a new stop four times since 2010, though only one of those times came when a head coach had no prior head coaching experience.
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