Miami Heat are Pinnacle Sports' favourite to win the 2012 NBA title now that the owners and players have settled their differences.
The league is set to resume on Christmas Day after a month of frantic roster management and training camps, with all 30 clubs looking to get themselves put together for the 66-game campaign.
So now we can turn our attention to the NBA odds board in earnest, with Pinnacle Sports posting futures for the 2011/12 title - and it should come as no surprise that the Heat are set as the favourites at 3.300 right now to win that championship.
Miami were expected to win the title last season after they brought in LeBron James and Chris Bosh to complement Dwyane Wade on the roster, but they ended up losing in six games to the Mavericks in the NBA Finals. The talented Heat, though, will still attract plenty of interest this year as they try to make amends.
The Mavericks rolled through the Western Conference last season with playoff series victories over the Trail Blazers, Lakers, and Thunder, led by star power forward Dirk Nowitzki. However, the Mavs are back at 10.160 to recapture that magic this time around and win a second straight title.
The Lakers are second on the NBA futures at 5.800 to win the 2012 NBA Championship, followed by the Thunder at 7.700, and the Bulls at 8.550.
The Bulls were the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs last season, but they were beaten by the Heat in just five contests in the third round of the postseason.
The Celtics, who lost to the Heat in the second round of last year's playoffs, are at 16.570 on the futures list, with the Magic at 20.840, the Grizzlies at 36.000, and both the Knicks and the Spurs at 38.500.
The Trail Blazers are pegged at 42.770, with the Nets currently listed at 51.000. The Clippers and Hawks round out the second tier of contenders at 70.580.
The Bucks 111.000, Nuggets 134.760, Pistons 161.500, and Hornets 214.990 are next to win the NBA title, with the other dozen teams set at longshot 268.480 odds to come out on top next spring.
