What NBA Betting Lines Have The Best Value Now?

The NBA is restarting after the coronavirus affected its players and the world in general. If you enjoy the game but are new to betting on the outcomes of it, this should act as a primer for you to understand the different kinds of betting lines. Below are some of the best value betting lines that you can opt for -  

Futures Betting.

This is essentially when various betting sportsbooks will analyze the form, strengths, and weaknesses before the season begins. Using this, they will draw up the chances of each team winning the NBA championship and the allied ones like the Eastern and Western Conferences. After this, they will assign the odds to each of them. The odds start with the favorite team and will grow longer as you go further away. 

For example, the 2019 - 2020 season saw the LA Clippers appear as the favorites to clinch the championship and the Phoenix Suns were the least likely to win the Championships. Because of this, the bets were +325 in favor of the Clippers and +30000 in favor of the Suns. What do these numbers mean? They mean the payout you will get if you bet $100 on the outcome. So if the Clippers won, you would get $325, but if the Suns won, you would get $30000. The reason why the Suns have such a high payout is the analysis shows they are the least likely to win. These futures odds extend to many categories such as MVP, Rookie of the Year, and the number of wins per team. 

Moneylines

This is an easy one - just a bet to predict which team will win a game. Pre-game, the betting sites will conduct a complete study of the teams playing the game - taking into account their rosters’ strengths, depth, injuries, home team advantage, and past performances against each other. Once they have this thorough analysis, they assign odds to both the team. This means one team will be a favorite, and one will be an underdog, except in the rare case where two very well-matched teams play each other. For example, if the Clippers were to play at home and were playing against a clear underdog team like Oklahoma City Thunder. It is clear that the favorites will be the Clippers. 

So the odds may look something like -190 for the Clippers and +160 for the Thunder. When you see a negative sign before a bet, it means you have to wage that much money to earn a $100 profit on your bet. So here, you would make a $100 profit if you bet $190 for the Clippers, and you would have to bet $100 to get a payout of $161 if the Thunder win. Since the Clippers are the clear favorite, it explains why the wager for their winning is more expensive. 

Point Spreads

Another really popular way of betting on basketball, it is when the betting sites give the stronger team a handicap. This means you bet on how many points the winning team will score than the losing team. This is a more specific bet and may seem intimidating, but in reality, it really is about reading the teams playing. Look at the previous example of the Clippers v. Thunder. Here, the handicap will be for the stronger team, for example, -5. This means the Clippers have to win with at least a six-point difference or more. If they win with a five-point difference or lower, you lose the bet. You can take the same bet on the other team’s side, where it will be +5. This means Thunder will have to lose with a difference of 5 points or lesser or win. When you bet on these lines, you have the potential to make a larger profit. But clearly, with the risk being high, the chances of you losing your money is also high. 

Prop Bets

This is more niche than other wagers discussed above. It’s based on a specific event occurring during the game. It could take on many forms - whether a specific player will score a set number of points, which team wins the particular quarter, which team reaches 10 points first, or if the game will go into overtime. All of these are decided by the sportsbook that you choose to place your wagers, so, it might not be the same across various sites. They are especially in high demand during the last leg of the championships but are commonly found throughout the year.