Pretty interesting that the "greatest player ever" was only favored in two finals
I think that says a lot about the mediocre teams he dragged to the Finals.
Presenting it as they were "only favored twice" is a little bit misleading btw most of these series there were not huge favorites (asides from 2017). Here are the odds for the 7 years (note there is always juice on these bets so if a team is -125 it basically means either team could win). I have added a note here for people here that are not familiar with odds so they know what it means
Note: I don't have 2018 on the site i am looking at
2017: warriors -2000 (this means the oddsmakers thought that cleveland had basically zero chance
2016: warriors -200 (warriors were significant favorites, but people did give cavs a small chance)
2015: warriors -190 (warriors were significant favorites, but people did give cavs a small chance
2014: San Antonio -125 (this means it was basically a 50-50 series
2013: San Antonio +200 (San Antonio was pretty moderate underdogs, but still had a chance)
2012: Oklahoma City -160 (OKC slight favorite, but really people thought anyone could win)
2011: Dallas +160 (people thought that heat would win, but really thought anyone could win) *side note i admit i am surprised this was not higher underdogs for dallas
So basically of these 7 the only one that people thought was a complete laugher (2017). Just about every other series both teams were given a chance to win the series at the start. I'll repeat, going 2-4 in those series is not a strong argument if you want to be the greatest ever.