NBA Postseason Predictions, Expert Picks and Odds for the Western Conference Ahead of the 2020 Season Restart

The return of the 2019-20 NBA season is finally upon us, tipping off on Thursday night.

With the short series of seeding games not likely to bring too many surprises, that means we can start to turn our attention to the NBA playoffs.

NBA Playoff Picks

FiveThirtyEight predictions are from their RAPTOR forecasts, Bleacher Report predictions are from NBA writer Greg Swartz, ESPN predictions are from their ESPN Forecast panel, and the latest NBA odds are available on FanDuel Sportsbook.

Who Will be the 8 Seed in the West?

FiveThirtyEight: New Orleans Pelicans
Bleacher Report: Portland Trail Blazers
ESPN: Portland Trail Blazers
FanDuel Sportsbook: Memphis Grizzlies

The first seven playoff spots in the Western Conference are locked up, but the race for the eighth and final spot is a wide-open three-team race. Interestingly, all three experts pick teams that are underdogs in the betting odds.

Western Conference Champion Picks

FiveThirtyEight: Los Angeles Lakers
Bleacher Report: Los Angeles Lakers
ESPN: Los Angeles Lakers
FanDuel Sportsbook: Los Angeles Lakers

There's a lot less disagreement here. It's a clean sweep for the Lakers, with every source predicting that the favorites win the Western conference and LeBron James reaches the NBA Finals once again.

NBA Championship Picks

FiveThirtyEight: Los Angeles Lakers
Bleacher Report: Los Angeles Lakers
ESPN: Los Angeles Lakers
FanDuel Sportsbook: Milwaukee Bucks

The predictions are once again unanimous from the three expert sources. If the Lakers get through the stacked Western Conference, the experts think they shouldn't have trouble with whoever is representing the East. FanDuel Sportsbook, however, has the Milwaukee Bucks as slight favorites to take home the championship.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.