MENDENHALL CENTER, LAS VEGAS, NV — After the San Antonio Spurs acquired free agent LaMarcus Aldridge, Vegas oddsmakers pegged them as the favorite behind the Cleveland Cavaliers (2-1 odds) to win the 2016 NBA Championship, at 9-2 odds. Meanwhile, the defending champion Golden State Warriors found themselves tied for third with the Oklahoma City Thunder at 5-1.
This, of course, did not sit well with the Warriors in attendance at USA Men’s Basketball’s National Team training earlier this month.
“Man, I mean, we won a championship,” Harrison Barnes bemoaned, in an interview with LetsGoWarriors. “I don’t know what to say. I think a lot of it is just the respect factor (for the Spurs). They’ve done it for so long. They’re such a great team, obviously a great coach, and I don’t think anyone would disagree about the respect that people show them.”
Draymond Green looked on the brighter side of things.
“It kind of takes pressure off us,” said Green told us. “I guess it puts more pressure on them, but they’re used to it. So whether we’re the favorites or not the favorites, we’re gonna go in with the same mission, the same goals that we’re gonna go in with, either way. That matters to betting people. It don’t matter to us.”
Green later told KNBR that the slight would put a chip on the Warriors’ shoulders.
As transcribed by Ken Berger of CBS Sports, Stephen Curry told Ball Don’t Stop that the Vegas odds were “kinda funny”:
“(It’s kinda funny that) We obviously are the champs, and you’ve got to think that we’re gonna be a better team next year with our experiences that we’ve had, and we’re not the favorites,” Curry said. “Obviously there’s been a lot of noise, teams retooling and trying to boost their lineups. You have teams that haven’t set foot on the floor yet and are heavily favored to kick us off our throne. We obviously know what’s going on,” Curry said. “And it’s up to us to keep our momentum that we built.”
Klay Thompson was having none of it, though.
“Oh, we’re still the favorite, man, what kind of stupid question is that?” Thompson jokingly scolded us when we asked what it was like to not be the favorites even after winning the title. “That’s alright, man, you know I don’t pay attention to that garbage. Just control what we can do and that’s trying to repeat. We know we got the target on our back.”
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via Zimbio/NBAE/Getty)
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