5 NBA teams to fade in 2020-21

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On Thursday, we ran through five of the best teams to target in the early NBA betting market for next season, including three potential title contenders and two upstart rosters with playoff upside. This time, let's look at five teams that will likely be overvalued ahead of the 2020-21 season:

Toronto Raptors

The Raptors were among the biggest surprises in 2019-20, and I even wrote about why they were one of the NBA's best title bets in February. Fast forward a year, though, and things could get messy for the reigning champions.

Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka are both set to hit free agency this summer, while young stud Fred VanVleet is due for a payday in restricted free agency. At 34, Kyle Lowry may not have the juice to be a solid second or even third fiddle, and the East should look better next year with a handful of maturing young rosters hitting their stride. Unless you're getting 50-1 or better odds to win it all, stay away.

Houston Rockets

Imagine putting all of your chips on the table for an aging, high-priced combo guard, only for the season to get canceled. That's likely the reality facing the Rockets, who shipped two first-rounders to Oklahoma City to turn Chris Paul into Russell Westbrook - a swap that felt questionable at the time and only looks worse with age.

It felt like a "one last push" move for Daryl Morey and Co., who were explosive at times, downright bad at others, and won't have much roster flexibility heading into next season thanks to Westbrook's gargantuan contract. This roster has been on the verge of a blowup for years; we may finally see it in 2020-21.

Brooklyn Nets

Are we sure this thing is going to work in Brooklyn? A healthy Kevin Durant obviously changes the calculus next year, but Kyrie Irving seemed like an unnatural fit when healthy in 2019-20, as the Nets owned a losing record pre-shutdown.

It's easy to forget given what transpired in the NBA the following week, but remember when Kenny Atkinson got canned in early March due, in part, to player unrest? That's not a great sign in Year 1 of the KD + Kyrie experiment. The hype surrounding this team will likely drive the price up, and it's not worth buying the risk.

Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers were clearly a top-three team this season and showed glimpses of true championship-level dominance. But they'll almost certainly be priced as dominant title contenders ahead of next season despite major uncertainty that should give bettors pause.

Like it or not, Anthony Davis is an impending free agent, and he's been unusually mum about his future with the organization. LeBron James will be entering his 18th season and turns 36 in December, and the rest of the roster could again be in flux with so many players on one-year deals ahead of a weak free-agent class. This is a classic fade candidate early on, even if you're gung-ho about L.A.'s title upside.

Minnesota Timberwolves

You probably weren't going to go all-in on the Timberwolves next year, but just in case, consider this: Before dealing for D'Angelo Russell, Minnesota ranked 16th in defensive rating (110.1) and 24th in net rating (-3.1) through 51 games. After dealing for Russell, they plummeted to 29th (117.5) and 28th (-7.3), respectively, amid a 3-10 run.

Pairing Russell with Karl-Anthony Towns is a defensive nightmare for the T-Wolves, and they don't have a third offensive star for opposing teams to consider on a nightly basis. This roster isn't built for success, and two flashy names shouldn't convince bettors otherwise.

C Jackson Cowart is a betting writer for theScore. He's an award-winning journalist with stops at The Charlotte Observer, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Times Herald-Record, and BetChicago. He's also a proud graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, and his love of sweet tea is rivaled only by that of a juicy prop bet. Find him on Twitter @CJacksonCowart.