NBA FUTURES ODDS FOR 2023

Bet on who will win the NBA Championship, NBA Most Valuable Player, and NBA Rookie of the Year:

NBA futures betting is betting on markets that are not to be imminently decided, but will be at the conclusion of the season. There are many different types of futures bets as they pertain to the NBA. Let’s discuss a few of the most prominent ones. 

The beauty of futures bets are that they can typically be placed on something NBA-related at any point in the year. During the NBA season, player awards and team performance futures are bet on frequently, but even in the off-season, players and their free agency destinations and the NBA Draft can be wagered on.

Betting on NBA futures is an extremely simple process even though the market has one of the largest collections of potential futures bets available.

Every major sportsbook offers some sort of NBA futures betting, but some offer more extensive options that include markets like Coach of the Year and Most Improved Player, for example.

When searching through the NBA futures odds at a sportsbook, there will usually be player names listed with the NBA odds and you have a choice of who to bet on.

This is true for markets like Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year. Another interesting aspect of NBA futures betting is that you can use them together in parlays. 

An example of a parlay for NBA futures betting would be to wager on Nikola Jokic to win MVP and Jaren Jackson Jr. to win the Defensive Player of the Year in the same bet slip.

You can also parlay between sports, meaning you can add both of these bet picks to a slip already containing one that has Shohei Ohtani to win the MLB’s American League MVP.

The NBA season runs from mid-October through the NBA Finals that conclude in June with the playoffs starting in April. The most popular futures bets for the NBA are Team Finishes:

One of the most common markets for betting on NBA futures is to bet on the NBA Finals champion. This type of betting goes on throughout the season and odds are typically released up to one month prior to the start of the regular season. This is the market where you would take the Milwaukee Bucks or the Golden State Warriors to win it all.

Following the NBA Finals champion, some bettors like to wager on who will win the NBA Western Conference Championship. There are only 15 teams in the Western Conference, so this makes it a tad easier to select who will win it as opposed to the NBA title. This is the market where you can bet on a team like the New Orleans Pelicans or Memphis Grizzlies to win the West.

The market for the Western Conference and Eastern Conference are exactly the same. There are only 15 teams in the Eastern Conference and this is the market where you can bet on a team like the Miami Heat to win the conference.

Another popular market for NBA Futures betting is to wager on whether or not a team will or will not make the playoffs. It is important to note that the top sportsbooks turn this type of futures bet off once the season begins. This can provide valuable odds for many people who either believe in their team or believe in another team around the league to surprise.

The market of betting on the over or under for a team’s total wins is comparable to betting on them to make the playoffs or not. Usually, a sportsbook will assign a win total at the beginning of the season, acting as the expected win total. This type of betting normally shuts down at the start of the regular season.

The most popular type of NBA futures bet on player awards is the Most Valuable Player market by a wide margin. With the amount of talent the NBA has, odds are usually hard to predict for individual players and some can provide immense value. This is the market where you would bet on top-tier players like Luka Doncic, LeBron James, or James Harden to be voted as the league’s MVP.

Wagering on the Rookie of the Year can be tough considering there are many different aspects that go into it. Even the most talented players that come out of the NBA Draft can be outshined by lesser-known prospects if they are not afforded enough playing time. Additionally, injuries can always impact the market. Top picks in the NBA Draft always draw the worst odds in terms of value, but the back-end of the lottery provides a lot of it. 

Defensive Player of the Year voting is typically a process that can go in any direction, thus making it one of the least-popular markets for NBA Futures betting. This award can see dramatic odds shifts from one game to another and can turn what looks like a winning bet into a weak one. 

Most Improved Player betting is a unique market that allows bettors to wager on who they believe will improve the most from the prior season to the current season. Typically, there are anywhere from a dozen to 30 different names that can be bet on in this market and they draw similar odds. 

Sixth Man of the Year is an award given out to the best bench player in the NBA each season. This can be hard to predict from a betting standpoint, however, considering that many players can move from the bench unit at the start of a season to being in the starting lineup, taking them out of consideration.