NBA win total projections: champion Warriors lead league, Lakers a playoff team

Matt Eppers | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption NBA: Landscape in the West after wild offseason SportsPulse: USA TODAY Sports' Sam Amick dissects the new-look Western Conference in which LeBron James now resides.

A new NBA season still is over two months away, but oddsmakers have begun posting win total projections for 2018-19.

Jeff Sherman, manager of the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, posted season win totals on Twitter on Sunday, and the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors unsurprisingly lead with 62.5 projected wins. The Boston Celtics have the second-highest win total at 57.5, followed by the Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors at 54.5 wins each.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are the only other team with at least 50 projected wins with 50.5. The Los Angeles Lakers, who made the biggest move of the offseason by signing LeBron James, are right behind, tied with the Utah Jazz at 48.5 wins. James' former Cleveland Cavaliers team is projected to finish in the bottom of the Eastern Conference at 30.5 wins.

NBA seas wins



Atl 23.5

Bos 57.5

Brk 32.5

Cha 35.5

Chi 27.5

Cle 30.5

Dal 34.5

Den 47.5

Det 37.5

GS 62.5

Hou 54.5

Ind 47.5

LAC 35.5

LAL 48.5

Mem 34.5

Mia 41.5

Mil 46.5

Min 44.5

NO 45.5

NY 29.5

OKC 50.5

Orl 31.5

Phi 54.5

Phx 28.5

Prt 41.5

Sac 25.5

SA 43.5

Tor 54.5

Uth 48.5

Wsh 44.5 — Jeff Sherman (@golfodds) August 5, 2018

At the launch of his foundation's I Promise School last week, James addressed his move to Los Angeles for the first time. He stopped short of setting any lofty expectations for the upcoming season and simply said "we’re definitely going to be better than we were the previous year."

Based on Westgate's projections, the top eight teams in the Western Conference that would make the playoffs are the Warriors, Rockets, Thunder, Lakers, Jazz, Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans and Minnesota Timberwolves.

The eight playoff teams in the East would be the Celtics, 76ers, Raptors, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, Washington Wizards, Miami Heat and Detroit Pistons.

The bottom five projected win totals in the league are the Atlanta Hawks (23.5), Sacramento Kings (25.5), Chicago Bulls (27.5), Phoenix Suns (28.5), and New York Knicks (29.5), all of whom finished in the bottom 10 last season.

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