What happens when rivals become teammates? Their team’s championship odds go soaring through the roof, apparently.
That’s what happened Monday night after the Chicago Sky took Kamilla Cardoso with the third overall pick of the WNBA Draft and selected her bitter SEC opponent Angel Reese four picks later. Prior to the draft, Chicago’s title odds at BetMGM were tied for the longest in the entire W at +8000. Today, they’re eighth-best at +4500, which is still far from contention but much better than before.
It’s the biggest leap any team made on draft night. The others risers were just title favorites becoming even stronger favorites.
Related: 2024 WNBA Draft grades for every pick in the 1st round
Biggest risers
- Chicago Sky: +8000 to +4500
- Seattle Storm: +1100 to +1000
- New York Liberty: +250 to +230
- Las Vegas Aces: +110 to +100
The only significant movement other than Chicago came from teams whose odds got worse for one reason or another.
The Phoenix Mercury dropped from +2000 to +3500 after picking just twice in the third round. The Dallas Wings dropped from +1200 to +2200 after adding Jacy Sheldon and Carla Leite in the first round. And though Dallas’ fall pushed the Indiana Fever ahead for fifth-best odds, the Fever tumbled from +1550 to +2000 even after adding top overall pick Caitlin Clark.
Biggest fallers
- Phoenix Mercury: +2000 to +3500
- Dallas Wings: +1200 to +2200
- Indiana Fever: +1550 to +2000
Barring injuries, much of this movement won’t mean anything with the champion Aces strong favorites to three-peat, and the runner-up Liberty the only other team expected to compete for a title. Odds for one sleeper, the Connecticut Sun, didn’t move at +1100, though Seattle moved slightly ahead to claim the third-best odds.
The Atlanta Dream, Minnesota Lynx, Washington Mystics and Los Angeles Sparks also didn’t see any movement down at the bottom.
