The National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the four major sports leagues in the United States and is watched by millions of fans around the world. Its games capture the attention of viewers with the thrill of competition, and its players are some of the most highly touted and recognized in the world of sports. Betting on the NBA is easy because the league's games can be seen almost anywhere you can find a television. And if you cannot find a television, you can find a way to stream the games on a personal device. The NBA season runs from October to July, and the playoffs alone last two months.
Tanzanian punters need no introduction to betting on NBA basketball. Still, we thought it best to provide a detailed overview of how to consistently profit when betting on basketball. Our guide covers everything from the basic bets you should (and shouldn't) make, to how and when to hedge your bets, to more advanced strategies like betting on NBA props rather than directly betting on which team will win a game. Budget accordingly. And good luck!
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Top NBA Betting Guide
Latest NBA Betting News
Understanding NBA Basketball Odds
In order to successfully engage in NBA betting that is likely to bear fruit, one must know how to read betting odds. It is a widely accepted rule that not all basketball games carry the same weight. Some contests determine the conference crown, while others are high-level skirmishes between the best in the business. So if you're going to try your hand at betting, you'll want to understand the NBA odds at some of the best moneyline platforms around. What's more, you can't make the most informed decision if you don't have even a passing knowledge of what the odds themselves mean.
Types on the NBA Games Bets
There are many types of bets you can place on the NBA, both before the game starts and during live play. While the NBA betting season starts well before the playoff schedule is released, you can bet with reasonable confidence on certain teams to make the playoffs and go on to great things. Betting markets have expanded the types of bets you can place on the Internet into a virtual betting paradise. Here's a list of some popular bets you can browse and place on an NBA game.
NBA Handicap Bets
In this basketball betting, the bookmakers are the ones who provide the odds and with them try to even out the betting on both sides so that they can make some money while also trying to keep things somewhat fair. In most cases, the bettors are simply picking which team will win outright, but they are also picking which team will win by more than a certain number of points. Again with the Warriors and Nuggets, let's say the Warriors are given -6.5 and the Nuggets are given +6.5.
Golden State has been to the NBA Finals the last four years, and they look well positioned to make it five in a row this season. The core of the team is still the Splash Brothers. The Nuggets, on the other hand, are a team without a championship to their name, making them the underdog in this scenario. To even things out, Golden State is listed at -18.5 and Denver is listed at +18.5.
NBA Futures
You can bet on which team will win the NBA conference championship. You can even bet on which player will be named MVP of the 2025 season. The offseason moves do not mean that the teams were bad. They represent the showtime aspect of the NBA, where anything can happen. They also give us partnership potential to work with in betting.
Moneylines NBA Bets
Similar to other sports, the NBA moneylines revolve around predicting the overall winner of the game. Several expert tipsters give their NBA predictions for tonight and share their insights on what makes the game a good bet. Players can use this information to bet against the spread (on the favorite) and make money by picking the underdog.
If your research and intuition tells you that the Clippers can beat the Lakers in the matchup of the year, you can bet on them and make some nice money. Bet on the money line, and while the payoff might not be super high, if you take a riskier pick, like the underdog to win, and pick the Clippers to drop the hammer on their crosstown rivals, you'll be rewarded far better.
Over/Under Betting
Since basketball is a high-scoring sport, betting on the NBA Over/Under makes betting even more fun. Over and Under bets are wagers on the combined score of the two teams. Bets are placed on whether the combined score of the two teams will be higher or lower than the number set by the bookmaker.
The final score of the game was 194, which was only 3.5 points less than the predicted score. Total lines are important to remember because they can change from the time of release, but they can also change during the course of a game if the game is predicted to sell more or less than the total line.
NBA Parlay/Teaser
The top NBA betting sites offer parlay bets on basketball in a way that can - and should - increase your weekend payouts. Parlay bets do not have to be on the NBA Finals, which are obvious bets to avoid. They can only be won with the right combination of bets. Oddsmakers may not always play fair, but they probably do in this case; they create parlay tickets with totals, handicaps, and money line bets that are enticing enough to make you want to play the game.
A teaser is essentially the same bet, but with a prediction from the sportsbook. Typically, they offer players point spreads that are meant to inflate the odds of winning.
NBA Betting Strategies
Online NBA forums around the world are where expert tipsters gather to share their wealth of information with betting novices. Among the insights you can glean there for free, if you don't count the price of the Internet, are some choice NBA picks that could sharpen your betting acumen.
- The most important thing to keep in mind is that bettors should place their money with an understanding of which players are in or out of the game. NBA teams announce their starting lineups before every game. If the opponent's most important player is unable to play, you can place your money on the underdog.
- Consider the length of the game. During the long, almost constant regular season, players do not overexert themselves for long stretches during a game or they may not make it through the season. As a result, regular season games are not played with the same intensity as the playoffs.
- Coming into a game with momentum is crucial for any team. For example, the last time the Golden State Warriors won the NBA title, they had a record of 73 wins and nine losses. Of those 73 wins, many came on their home court and in hostile arenas. Winning a lot of games like this can even out the odds a bit, and it did in this case.
- Observe how teams defend their home court and how they perform on the road. This can be an indicator of a team's form and ability to win in a playoff series.
National Basketball Association Rules
NBA basketball games last 48 minutes. They are divided into four quarters of 12 minutes each. The two teams in an NBA game play with five players on each side. Players can be substituted in and out of the game as many times as a team's coach wants, except when a player is ejected for a penalty.
When a team has the ball, it has 24 seconds to attempt a shot that will score and make the other side of the field the team's side. TZ bettors place bets on all of these game factors, including the outcome of the first and last quarter of the game.
Past NBA Finals Champions and Runners-Up
Over the past two decades, only nine teams have won the NBA Championship. This simple fact offers smart sports bettors a couple of key advantages when evaluating potential NBA Championship futures. For one, it gives us fairly recent historical data to work with. We can look at the past two decades and see which teams have been consistently good enough to not only make the Finals, but to win the damn thing.
| Year | NBA Finals Winner | Runner-Up |
| 2022 | Golden State Warriors | Boston Celtics |
| 2021 | Milwaukee Bucks | Phoenix Suns |
| 2020 | Los Angeles Lakers | Miami Heat |
| 2019 | Toronto Raptors | Golden State Warriors |
| 2018 | Golden State Warriors | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| 2017 | Golden State Warriors | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| 2016 | Cleveland Cavaliers | Golden State Warriors |
| 2015 | Golden State Warriors | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| 2014 | San Antonio Spurs | Miami Heat |
| 2013 | Miami Heat | San Antonio Spurs |
| 2012 | Miami Heat | Oklahoma City Thunder |
| 2011 | Dallas Mavericks | Miami Heat |
| 2010 | Los Angeles Lakers | Boston Celtics |
| 209 | Los Angeles Lakers | Orlando Magic |
| 2008 | Boston Celtics | Los Angeles Lakers |
| 2007 | San Antonio Spurs | Cleveland Cavaliers |
