NBA Betting Odds

That's the first number you'll see beside the matchup between two teams. The point spread is the most commonly deployed bet, particularly for beginners, because it's designed to level the playing field regardless of which side of the spread you bet on.

Favored teams will have a minus sign next to their spread (e.g. -6), and underdogs will have a plus sign (e.g. +6). The numbers represent the number of points the favorite must win in order to pay out a winning bet. The greater the favorite, the more points they must win in order to cover the spread.

On the other side, the underdog team has a bit of a cushion. They don't have to win to give you a successful point spread wager. Rather, they must lose by fewer points than the proposed spread in order to yield a winning bet.

If you see a half-point rather than a whole number (e.g. +6.5), all that's doing is eliminating the possibility of a push, which occurs when you pick the exact scoring margin. That is, if you bet on the LA Lakers to win by six points, and they beat the LA Clippers 106-100, your bet is refunded; you don't win.

Every NBA game should feature a slightly different spread and will change leading up to the start from what the opening lines are. In NHL or MLB odds, the spread is fixed at plus or minus 1.5, so it's nice to have a greater margin for error and variance when it comes to NBA betting lines.

The advantages of wagering on NBA games are similar to those of NFL odds. NBA is also markedly different than, say, horse racing, where you're betting on individual horses' odds to win or to finish in a particular place.

When you look at the odds, lines for NBA games will have a number that's approximately at -110. What is this, exactly? It's what's known in sports betting lingo as "juice" or "vig" (short for vigorish). All this means is the sportsbook is shaving a little bit off the top of your wager as a sort of tax that you pay on your bet.

The reason for this is the sportsbook is already offering you a bargain by posting a spread. That's typically easier than picking an outright winner, especially if it's an underdog. In the case of betting the favorite, the oddsmaker is providing the bettor a chance to win more than a moneyline wager. Thus, you don't often see "even money" or +100 odds attached to a spread unless the sportsbook is encouraging action on that side of the spread.

Online sportsbooks do a lot of the calculations for you, which is nice. The aforementioned -110 "juice" figure relates to bets of $100. On an "even money" or +100 spread line, you'd win $100 on a $100 bet. But because the sportsbook is charging a tax, that $100 wager only results in a $90.91 win. You'd therefore need to bet $110 to win $100. Spread odds can change once a game is live, but shouldn't be outside the +100 to -120 range prior to tip-off.

If you're not crazy about betting on the spread, don't worry about it. When it comes to moneyline odds, they're a little easier to follow. No "juice" to be concerned with, nor scoring margin. A moneyline bet means you're simply selecting the outright winner of the game, regardless of the score.

Going this route is certainly a little less forgiving than picking the spread when you're betting on the underdog. If you feel really good that an upset is going to happen, though, go ahead and take the flier on the less favored team's odds to win. Perhaps you'd consider hedging a bet on the spread if you go the underdog moneyline route. That way, there's some built-in insurance in case the outright win doesn't happen.

Moneyline odds are designed to reward bold underdog picks. Say there's a huge favorite, and the spread is something like -7.5 points. That'll usually translate to a -300 moneyline - or even shorter odds. To circle back to our spread bet example in relation to $100, you'd need to wager $300 to win a mere $100 in that scenario or $30 to win $10, and so on. It's a big risk for not such a great reward.

The phrase "any given Sunday" really does apply to the NFL, and it translates to the NBA, too. The phrase essentially means that even the worst teams can beat the best in any given contest.

If you do go for a big favorite with -300 odds, it may be worth making that part of a larger parlay that features multiple wagers that all must hit for a win. If you have a three-team parlay of heavy favorites, the odds will lengthen, although if you're going that route, it might be worth just picking one winner for a single game.

In the last column of each game, you'll see the Over/Under or Total. This figure is the baseline the oddsmakers have set for the betting lines, and you have to predict whether the teams will combine to hit the Over or the Under of that total.

We mentioned the push phenomenon a little earlier. That's possible if the Over/Under is a whole number, but there will usually be a half-point in there to avoid that scenario. Say the Total for a game is at 219.5. It'd take a final score of, say, 110-109 (219 points) or less to hit the Under, whereas a more decisive 125-105 final tally, or a higher combined point total, would result in an Over winning bet.

That juice/vig concept from earlier comes into play pertaining to the Over/Under. The lines will usually be in the neighborhood of -110 odds, but in live betting, you can get slightly better odds. Savvy bettors look to see how teams are trending and which side of the Total they hit more often.

Betting live on the spread, moneyline or Total can be advantageous if you're watching the contest unfold on TV. However, it's also a challenge to process the myriad of variables in an NBA game that is constantly in flux in real-time. It requires experience to navigate all those elements, along with expert knowledge of the teams involved.

It used to be that friends would take trips to Las Vegas and bet on their favorite team to win the NBA championship while frequenting the casinos. Now that legal sports betting is picking up across the U.S., that's no longer really the case, because major sportsbooks offer what are called futures, which are, to put it succinctly, long-term investments that won't pay off until a while into the future.

When it comes to NBA odds, futures wagers are most frequently placed on who will win the championship. There are other types of futures props such as team wins, whether a team will make the playoffs, and more, but Finals winner betting is the most common.

It takes a disciplined and patient bettor to take the plunge on futures betting lines. They're very different from regular NBA lines because when you're betting on pro basketball odds on a regular basis, you get the instant gratification of a winning payout. The action is happening now, and the wagers pertain to what's going on in that particular game or week of the league's schedule.

The odds for futures are far longer than single NBA games. It's a lot harder to predict who will win the championship than, say, who will win an individual game. Futures are constantly shifting throughout the season, but the sooner you jump on an eventual winner, chances are, the better bargain you'll get, which will increase your payout in the end if that franchise hoists the Larry O'Brien Trophy. You can also hedge by betting on multiple teams on NBA championship futures, whereas you're betting on a singular outcome in an individual game.

No need to get confused on this, because at abe, we have a whole separate futures page that also features conference winner props throughout the NBA season. Take a visit there when the time arrives, and also check out our "How to Bet" hub for more online sports betting tutorials that cover the NBA and many of the other major sports leagues to help you increase your betting upside.