Stephen Curry injury has Las Vegas oddsmakers scrambling and waiting

The knee injury that will keep reigning NBA most valuable player Stephen Curry sidelined for at least two weeks has altered the defending-champion Golden State Warriors’ favored status to repeat in Las Vegas.

While Nevada’s largest independent sports book, the Westgate Superbook, has taken off the board any so-called futures bets for teams to win the NBA title due to Curry’s injury, MGM Resorts has adjusted the odds.

Golden State, which won an NBA-record 73 regular-season games, has dropped at MGM from nearly a 1-2 favorite to even money.

Curry on Sunday returned from a two-game absence due to an ankle injury but hurt his knee before halftime of visiting Golden State’s victory over the Houston Rockets, sliding awkwardly on a wet spot on the floor.

His iffy status has moved the San Antonio Spurs to 9-5 from 2-1, the Oklahoma City Thunder to 10-1 from 12-1, the Clippers to 15-1 from 18-1 and the Eastern Conference-favorite Cleveland Cavaliers to 5-2 from 7-2.

The Warriors have a 3-1 series lead on the Houston Rockets with Game 5 in Oakland’s Oracle Arena on Wednesday. In that game Westgate Superbook director Jay Kornegay has the Warriors posted a favorite by 9.5 points.

Should the Clippers defeat the Portland Trail Blazers in their first-round series that resumes tonight in Portland, with the Clippers owning a 2-1 series lead, Golden State would play the Clippers in the second round.

“Everything futures-wise in the NBA is off the board for now and I don’t know when it’ll be back up,” Kornegay said. “We have to get an idea of how long he’ll be out, better than two to four weeks. We think it’s going to be three to four weeks, and if it’s the Clippers in the second round, that series is going to be pretty tough without Curry.

“It’s going to be close -- very close -- maybe a pick-’em.”

Kornegay had Golden State as a 4-5 favorite to win the title before Curry’s knee injury, which was diagnosed Monday by an MRI as a Grade I right MCL sprain. The guard was seen in tears by at least one teammate after getting hurt.

The odds being posted “depends if we can get more clarification on how long he’s out,” Kornegay said. “There’s no rush for us to post that. We’ll wait for the information, to get a more detailed timeline of how long. It could be today, it might not be a couple days.

“A star player like that getting hurt, it happens and him being out impacts the futures for sure. We’ll see what the reports are – is he walking? Is he in a brace? Is he in a wheelchair? I don’t know. For us, he’s a considerable player, so you have to wait until you have the right information before you start booking things on it. You can’t just post things when you don’t have good information.”

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