Before you can bet on anything else in the NBA, you can bet on NBA futures. As soon as the NBA Finals are over, and a team is crowned champion, you can bet on them to repeat or 29 other teams to stop them and become champions in their own right next season.
When you bet on NBA futures, it’s important to note that the online sportsbook will hold the money until the champion has been decided. Your money could be tied up for nearly a year if you bet on the NBA champion when the odds are initially released, but that’s also when there’s typically the best value. You’ll be able to bet on NBA futures throughout the season too.
NBA Futures Betting
You can bet on NBA futures in a number of ways. Nowadays, betting on where NBA free agents will sign has been an increasingly popular bet, but the more typical options involve betting on NBA teams to reach certain benchmarks.
The NBA futures betting option with the most potential profit involves betting on the NBA title winner. Here, longshots can be as much as 1000-1 to win it all, so you can create a mini-lotto ticket for yourself.
Of course, there are other options too. You can bet on NBA teams to win their division or their conference, and there is also win total betting. Additionally, some online sportsbooks will also have individual prop bets on which people will win MVP and there are select statistical betting options too.
NBA Win Total Betting
Betting on NBA win totals has been one of the most popular betting options over the last decade. You may not think that a team like the Orlando Magic has a chance to win the NBA title, but you might believe that they are being significantly underestimated by the oddsmakers. With NBA win total betting, you can make a profit as long as you have a better read than the oddsmakers.
NBA futures betting is pretty simple, and NBA win total betting is as straightforward as can be. You are just betting on whether or not a team wins a certain number of games in a season. Most win totals are prices at .5 so that there are no pushes and you either win or lose your bet.
NBA to Win Division Betting
When it comes to NBA division betting, you are betting on a team to win its division. These odds have typically lower odds than other futures bets just because there are fewer teams available to wager on.
You’ll find some pretty heavy favorites if you bet on NBA divisions as some teams are miles better than their division foes. We have seen teams listed as -500 or more division favorites over the past decade.
NBA to Win Conference Betting
Betting on NBA conference winners can be a good option for a few different reasons. A team could have slightly better odds to win its conference than it does to win the NBA Finals than you would fine if you were to simply split the latter number in half. Conference strength plays a major factor in these odds, and the NBA has often had lopsided conferences.
This could come in handy if you think a team is the best team in a weak conference, but you also believe that they would get crushed in a finals series against a team from the stronger conference. For examples of this, look at the early 2000s, when the Western Conference was significantly better than the Eastern Conference.
NBA Player Futures Betting
Betting on the NBA MVP has risen as the league becomes more individual focused. Rather than bet on a player’s team to win it all, you can just bet on a player to have a historic season, like we saw from Russell Westbrook a few years ago.
There are also options to bet on players to reach certain statistical benchmarks before the start of a season. These bets usually run for the length of the regular season and are typically offered in the weeks before the first game.
NBA Finals Betting Odds
Of course, the most important thing is winning it all at the end of the year, and NBA Finals bets take up the lion’s share of all NBA futures bets. You can bet on the NBA champion throughout the regular season, and the odds will change dramatically throughout the year.
Check out the latest NBA futures odds at the online sportsbook.
