Everything you Must Know for Betting on the NBA

Basketball is a game that reaches levels of pace and excitement that most other sports just don’t get near.

But if the fast-paced action is thrilling to watch, it can be made even more involving when you have a little money riding on the game.

As well as having the whole season to bet on, things reach true fever pitch when the NBA Finals come around in April each year, a fact that’s made even more exciting when there are truly unexpected results.

This year’s finals promise to be no exception. Although when you look at the NBA Championship odds, the Milwaukee Bucks go into the playoffs as out and out favorites there will be plenty of other opportunities to place some potentially money-making bets.

So follow our guide on the wagers you can make and a few tips on which ones to choose.

Types of bets

There are six main overall types of bet that you can make as well as many sub-bets. In approximate order of popularity they are:

Moneyline

This is the most basic form of basketball bet in which you just need to pick which team will win a particular game. In terms of odds, they are presented as a number preceded by a – sign for the favorites or a + sign for the underdogs. For example, in a game between the LA Lakers and the Toronto Raptors, the Lakers are expected to win so their odds would be -130 with the Raptors at +110.

This means a $130 bet on the Lakers would win $100 while a $100 bet on the Raptors would return $110 should they win.

Points Spread

Another popular bet is on the minimum number of points that a team is expected to lose by. For the favorites this is represented by a negative value and for the other team it’s a positive value.

To use the same example as above, the Lakers are valued at -2.5 so they must win by at least 3 points. The Raptors are at +2.5 so they need to win outright or lose by less than 2 points. The odds on this kind of bet are generally -110 so a successful $110 wager would win $100.

Over/Under

Sportsbooks also generally calculate a total points figure for each game covering aggregate points scored.

There’s a choice of betting that the total will be over or under the estimate and you can bet on either. Generally, the points total is between 200 and 240 depending on the game and the actual odds can vary greatly depending on who’s playing.

Parlays

There are certain bets that, like in other sports, that you are allowed to link together. This can be a good strategy if you pick bets with relatively low odds. That’s because if they all come off, it can multiply winnings quite considerably.

Prop Bets

As more and more people get into sports betting, an increasing number of different so-called prop bets have been introduced. These cover a range of outcomes, from the number of three-pointers a team will score in a gameto over/under bets for individual players.

Futures

Unlike all the bets already described which relate to individual games, as the name suggests, futures look at outcomes in the future. This may be which team will eventually win the NBA championships and even who will be the most-valued player at the end of the season. While they don’t offer the immediate excitement ofa match bet, their long-range nature means that you can often get very good odds.

A few tips for betting

While these will never make you enough money to buy a pair of Michael Jordan’s boots, here are a few handy tips if you want to dive into a little NBA betting.

Bet early

Often it’s a good idea to get your bets in as soon as possible after the markets open for a particular game. As the game approaches it’s often the case that odds shorten so, if you do delay, you risk winning less than you would have done by being quick off the mark.

Watch the injury list

Plenty of teams rely on just a few players for their success – and if these players are out of action it can dramatically affect their chances. So keep a close eye out on this, and all team news, if you want to be making well-informed choices.

Focus on current form

While it’s a good idea to see how teams have performed against each other in the past, it’s more important to consider current performance, because when a team’s on a hot streak they’re the ones to follow.

So hopefully you now have a sound grounding in the principles of basketball betting - and it’s time to put it all into practice.