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When Paul George suffered an open tibia-fibula fracture on Friday night in Team USA's intrasquad scrimmage, the Indiana Pacers obviously took a huge blow. While everyone's attention should be focused on George and his well-being, sportsbooks did act pretty much immediately by lowering Indiana's odds for success next season.
"After the injury news of Paul George we moved Indy from 20-1 to 35-1 to win the NBA title and from 8-1 to 15-1 to win the East," Mike Perry of Sportsbook.ag told Covers.
Bovada, which had the Pacers at 14-1 to win next year's championship at the conclusion of this past season, has them at 33-1 now. This shouldn't be surprising -- in fact, you could easily make the argument the odds should have dropped even more. George is likely to miss the entire season, and he's by far Indiana's best two-way player. You don't just recover from losing a star, and the Pacers are in a particularly precarious position because of their lack of wing depth. Bovada still has them equal with the Miami Heat and Washington Wizards, and ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors. That could change.
