A total of 24 ESPN experts on Tuesday made their prediction for the 2017-18 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers that will start on May 31. All of them chose the Warriors for the championship.

The Cavaliers fight seven games with the Indiana Pacers in the first round for a tough win and barely escaped another seven-game series against the Boston Celtics before entering the Finals. Moreover, they lost Kevin during the Eastern Conference Finals because of concussion. Though the team has LeBron James who has already made historic performances, it would take more than him to fight the Warriors that has Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Clay Thompson and Draymond Green.

Of all the 24 ESPN experts, only Chris Herring thought Golden State could sweep out Cleveland in four games. Ian Begley and Jeremias Engelmann believed the series would last to full seven games. Meanwhile two thirds, 16, of them predicted that the Warriors would win the Larry O'Brien NBA Championship Trophy in five games.

ESPN commentator Jeff Jeff Van Gundy said he would be surprised if the Cavaliers wins even one game. "This is the biggest difference that I remember between two teams heading into the Finals in my time in the NBA. I can’t think of a bigger gap from a team perspective," said Van Gundy, adding that Cleveland would "have to be lights-out from the three-point line to have a chance to win a game."

Mark Jackson, former head coach of Golden State disagreed that Cleveland stands no chance. "I’m not going to say zero percent chance, they have the best player in the world (LeBron James). I think we are not giving the Cavs and (Coach) Ty Lue, LeBron James and the supporting cast enough credit. They marched through the Eastern Conference. I’m not so sure that they are not the second-best team in the business, and we’ll see how it plays out," said Jackson.

Meanwhile Covers, one of the major information sources of sports gaming industry on Tuesday released betting odds of who may win 2017-18 NBA Finals MVP. Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant of the Warriors ranked first and second with respectively 9/5 and 5/7. LeBron James of the Cavaliers came in third with 7/1.

ESPN's Dave McMenamin on Tuesday said Tyronn Lue, head coach of Cleveland told him in an interview Kevin Love might miss Game One of the Finals because of NBA's concussion protocol. Love had to leave the court in Game Six with the Celtics on May 25 after a head-to-head collision with Jason Tatum. He was diagnosed with concussion and missed Game Seven.

As for the Warriors, league sources said that Andre Iguodala who got his left knee hurt in Game Three with the Houston Rockets and missed the four games later might not appear in the court for Game One of the Finals either. Iguodala told the reporters that he did not feel pain walking, but was still searching for ways to heal his knee.

Game One of the 2017-18 NBA Finals will be played at the Oracle Arena in Oakland on Thursday.