Memphis Grizzlies favored to earn Western Conference's final NBA playoff spot

Because the 22 NBA teams that are heading to Disney in Orlando to resume the regular season at the end of July will not have played the same amount of overall games in some circumstances – each will play eight more, though – the league will use winning percentage will determine the conference playoff seeding. On the moneyline odds at William Hill sportsbook, the Memphis Grizzlies are -140 favorites to grab the last spot in the Western Conference.

The Grizzlies (32-33) are currently sitting eighth in the West with a 3.5-game lead over the Portland Trail Blazers (29-37), New Orleans Pelicans (28-36) and Sacramento Kings (28-36). The San Antonio Spurs (27-36) are four back and the Phoenix Suns (26-39) are six out.

Keep in mind that if any No. 9 seed is within four games of the No. 8 by the conclusion of the eight-game regular-season schedule remaining, there will be a play-in tournament between those two clubs. The No. 9 seed would have to beat the No. 8 twice to advance and the No. 8 win just once to do so.

The NBA hasn't made official the schedules, but it's thought they will pick up where left off when things were shut down the night of March 11 – obviously, subtracting any of the eight teams not invited to Disney. If that's true, the Grizzlies would have this schedule: vs. Blazers, Jazz, Spurs, Thunder, Bucks, Pelicans, Pelicans, Celtics. That's very tough.

The Pelicans are +350 second-favorites on the NBA odds to earn the West's final playoff spot, and we can guarantee that secretly the NBA wants New Orleans to get it simply so rookie sensation Zion Williamson can be showcased as long as possible. This would be the Pels' projected schedule: vs. Kings, Jazz, Clippers, Spurs, Grizzlies, Kings, Grizzlies, Magic. That's quite a bit easier than Memphis' slate.

Portland is +400 on this prop, and the top-seeded Lakers don't want to face Damian Lillard and that dangerous bunch now that Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins are both healthy. Sacramento, which was playing really well when the league shut down, is +1000 with San Antonio at +1600 -- the Spurs have ruled out star big man LaMarcus Aldridge for the season, which shifted them from +1000 -- and Phoenix a +10000 long shot. 

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