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Following his graduation with an Honors in Business Administration, Nick redirected his focus from conventional stocks and bonds to the world of sports team performance investments. He employs a unique blend of advanced statistics and historical data to construct intricate sports investment models, pinpointing value opportunities and consistently yielding profits. Nick's contributions extend beyond a single platform, as his work can be discovered on outlets such as Pistons Powered, Winners And Whiners, and numerous other publications.
All posts by Nick RaffoulThe NBA Draft is one of the most exciting nights of the year, and now, thanks to the number of sportsbooks offering NBA Draft Betting, you can make some money from your draft predictions. We’re going to look at the best NBA Draft betting sites currently available to American bettors and compare their Draft betting options, plus show you how to claim some free money to bet on the NBA draft.
How to Bet on the NBA Draft?
Once the curtain comes down on the NBA Finals, basketball bettors can at least delay a summer away from Doncic for an extra week by wagering on the NBA Draft, which generally takes place seven days or so after the finals. For fans, it signals the last chance to turn quick profits on NBA teams (futures markets are still open, of course, but you’ll be waiting a while for that bet to come in!).
Once you’ve joined your favored sportsbook, deposited some dollars, and taken advantage of one of the many promos/ risk-free bets on offer, head to the NBA Draft section of the site.
Below, we’ve listed some of the types of bets you can expect to see at the premiere NBA Draft Betting sites, such as BetUS, FanDuel, and DraftKings:
- No.1 overall pick
- No.2, No.3 (etc.) overall picks – most of the best NBA betting sites allow you to go right the way to No.30 on the day
- Top three picks in order
- The first player drafted by position
- Which player will be drafted by which team?
- Over/under player pick No. in the draft
Let’s cast an eye over each of the above options, take a look at what kind of NBA draft betting odds you can expect to find, and explain how betting on the draft really works.
Betting on the No.1 – No.30 Overall Pick at the NBA Draft
This is, without doubt, the most common type of bet concerning the NBA Draft – even NBA betting apps that don’t accentuate the draft will tend to have this market (at least picks 1-5) open for its patrons.
Because there are numerous players available to select from, the only real way for the sportsbook to display the odds is in the same way they do for futures/game-winners, namely, by using the moneyline American odds (+/- and a number: +150, for example). All the bettor needs to do here is to check the NBA Draft betting odds and select which player he/she feels will be drafted at No.1, 2, 3, etc. – it’s that easy.
Odds for the 2021 NBA Draft No.1 Overall Pick
At present, the NBA Draft odds are almost exclusively for the No.1. No.2 (etc.) overall pick. The NBA Conference Championships are underway at the time of writing, with the Finals to come in July. So, expect to see the usual, far-deeper prop markets posted by the likes of BetUS, Bovada, MyBookie, and DraftKings about a week prior to the big day on July 29.
At present, the odds for the top 10 players to go off the board at No.1 are as follows (odds courtesy of DraftKings):
| Player | Odds |
| Cade Cunningham | -8000 |
| Jalen Green | +1000 |
| Evan Mobley | +1500 |
| Jalen Suggs | +2500 |
| Jonathan Kuminga | +3000 |
| Scottie Barnes | +5000 |
| Keon Johnson | +10000 |
| Davion Mitchell | +10000 |
| Franz Wagner | +10000 |
| Josh Giddey | +20000 |
Odds for the 2021 NBA Draft No.2 Overall Pick
Most of the best NBA draft betting apps also have odds listed for the No.2 overall pick, too. We’ve included the DraftKings odds since they were up first, but you may wish to wait until the likes of MyBookie and BetUS broadcast theirs during the Draft week for better value.
| Player | Odds | |
| Evan Mobley | -118 | |
| Jalen Green | +125 | |
| Jalen Suggs | +125 | |
| Jonathan Kuminga | +800 | |
| Cade Cunningam | +1000 | |
| Scottie Barnes | +3000 | |
| Josh Giddey | +5000 | |
| Davion Mitchell | +5000 | |
| Keon Johnson | +10000 | |
| Franz Wagner | +10000 |
NBA Draft Odds: No.1 Pick Comparison Table
|
Sportsbook |
Cade Cunningham |
Jalen Suggs |
| Bovada |
-5000 |
+2000 |
| FanDuel |
-6000 |
+5000 |
| DraftKings |
-8000 |
+2500 |
BetUS and MyBookie historically broadcast excellent NBA Draft odds, but both sites are late to market this time around, most likely due to the extension of the regular season and the NBA playoffs. We will update the above table once we have more information from the aforementioned sportsbooks.
At present, you can see that FanDuel is offering the best odds on Jalen Suggs (+5000), but Bovada has the best odds on Cade Cunningham.
Betting on the Top 3/4 NBA Draft Picks in Exact Order
This prop bet follows the same rules as the one above. The odds (+100/-100) work the exact same way, so we’ll keep this short.
Sportsbooks will provide multiple selections of players for the bettor to choose from and in varying orders (see the DraftKings example below)
| Player Order | Odds |
| 1. Cunningham, 2. Green, 3. Mobley | +400 |
| 1. Green, 2. Cunningham, 3. Kuminga | +1500 |
That’s effectively all there is to this market, just pick the order and apply the same math as used when Betting on the No.1 Overall Pick
Explore Our Expert-Written Sports Betting Guides
How to bet on the Player Pick No. at the NBA Draft?
For a player draft position wager, no matter which sportsbook you’ve chosen to visit, you’re likely to see something on-screen akin to what you see below:
- Moses Moody over/under 10.5
- Over: +100
- Under: -100
All you need to do is decide whether or not Moses Moody will be taken off the board before (under) or after (over) the specified number (10.5). The odds broadcast on both the over and under options tend to be reasonably similar since this is effectively a 50/50 bet.
Negative odds (in this case U-100), indicate that one side is slightly favored to come in by the oddsmakers, and vice-versa for the +100 (the underdog).
If you wagered £100 on the Over market for Moses Moody to be drafted over pick 10.5 and he is indeed drafted at Pick No.12 (or Pick No. 11 and above, to be clear), you win $100. If you bet $200 on Moody to go before pick Pick No.10.5, and he is drafted at No.6 overall (or Pick No.10 or before), you win.
Betting on the NBA Draft: Will Player X Be Drafted Over/Under a Particular Number?
The very best sports betting apps will also feature an NBA Draft betting line for a player’s draft position (over/under). Effectively, this line works in the exact same fashion as a total points wager on a game of NBA/NCAA basketball.
If you look at the image above, you’ll see odds of +100 for Sharife Cooper to be drafted over pick No. 21.5. If you were to wager $100 on this line, and Cooper was to come off the board at pick No.22 upwards, you would win. If Cooper was picked before then (No.21 and below), you would lose.
Of course, the exact opposite is true for the Under market.
Odds for the 2021 NBA Draft No.1 Overall Pick
At present, the NBA Draft odds are almost exclusively for the No.1. No.2 (etc.) overall pick. The NBA Conference Championships are underway at the time of writing, with the Finals to come in July. So, expect to see the usual, far-deeper prop markets posted by the likes of BetUs, Bovada, MyBookie, and DraftKings about a week prior to the big day on July 29.
At present, the odds for the top 10 players to go off the board at No.1 are as follows (odds courtesy of DraftKings):
| Player | Odds |
| Cade Cunningham | -8000 |
| Jalen Green | +1000 |
| Evan Mobley | +1500 |
| Jalen Suggs | +2500 |
| Jonathan Kuminga | +3000 |
| Scottie Barnes | +5000 |
| Keon Johnson | +10000 |
| Davion Mitchell | +10000 |
| Franz Wagner | +10000 |
| Josh Giddey | +20000 |
Odds for the 2021 NBA Draft No.2 Overall Pick
The best sportsbooks have odds listed for the No.2 overall pick, too. We’ve included the DraftKings odds since they were up first, but you may wish to wait until the likes of MyBookie and BetUS broadcast theirs during the Draft week for better value.
Basketball Insiders Top 30 picks at the 2021 NBA Draft
If you’re looking for a heads up on which players to wager on to go No.1, No.2, and No.3 overall, or which team is likely to select which player, we’ve taken the liberty of listing the probable top 30 picks below.
Of course, there’s always a chance that the Detroit Pistons pass on the consensus agreed No.1 overall pick Cade Cunningham and opt to strengthen a position of need instead. But we feel this will at least be close to the order seen come July 29.
- Cade Cunningham (Oklahoma State)
- Evan Mobley (USC)
- Jalen Green (G League)
- Jalen Suggs (Gonzaga)
- Jonathan Kuminga (G League)
- Scottie Barnes (Florida State)
- Jalen Johnson (Duke)
- James Bouknight (UConn)
- Moses Moody (Arkansas)
- Ziaire Williams (Stanford)
- Keon Johnson (Tennessee)
- Franz Wagner (Michigan)
- Davion Mitchell (Baylor)
- Jaden Springer (Tennessee)
- Kai Jones (Texas)
- Josh Giddey (Australia)
- Johnny Juzang (UCLA)
- Isaiah Jackson (Kentucky)
- Ayo Dosunmu (Illinois)
- Corey Kispert (Gonzaga)
- Greg Brown (Texas)
- Jared Butler (Baylor)
- Tre Mann (Florida)
- Chris Duarte (Oregon)
- Sharif Cooper (Auburn)
- Day’Ron Sharpe (UNC)
- BJ Boston (Kentucky)
- Cameron Thomas (LSU)
- Miles McBride (West Virginia)
- Usman Garuba (Spain)
Betting on the NBA Draft Lottery
The NBA Draft Lottery took place in late June 2022 this year. So, it’s been and gone at the time of writing. But, as it is with NBA betting online, it is also possible to wager on those balls as they come out of the machine.
At this year’s 2022 NBA Draft Lottery, top favorites included the Oklahoma City Thunder, Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Sacramento Kings, and New Orleans Pelicans at +700.
The complete list of odds each team had heading into the draft is listed below (DraftKings):
- Houston Rockets +550
- Detroit Pistons +550
- Orlando Magic +550
- Cleveland Cavaliers +700
- Oklahoma City Thunder +700
- Minnesota Timberwolves +900
- Toronto Raptors +1100
- Chicago Bulls +2000
- New Orleans Pelicans +2000
- Sacramento Kings +2000
- Charlotte Hornets+5000
- San Antonio Spurs+5000
- Indiana Pacers+9000
- Golden State Warriors+15000
What actually transpired was eerily close to the listed odds: Houston Rockets will select at No.2, followed by the Cleveland Cavaliers at No.3; that is, once the draft gets underway on July 29. Orlando dropped down to fifth via the lottery, but did luck in as the bad luck for the Chicago Bulls continued – Bulls needed to get a top 4 pick to keep their selection for the Nikola Vucevic trade. The franchise ended up with pick No.8 and had to surrender it to their old foes in Orlando.
Full Order for the 2021 NBA Draft:
As mentioned, the 2021 NBA Draft Lottery has already taken place. It might help you make some better NBA Draft betting predictions to know the exact order that teams will pick in once we get to July 29, so we’ve listed the first 30 picks out below for your convenience.
Will the Pistons take Cunningham, or will they look to address a different position? What about Orlando: what will they do with their two top 10 picks?
Ensure you have an NBA betting strategy in mind: ensure you’ve done the research and checked the odds before placing your wager.
- Detroit Pistons
- Houston Rockets
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Toronto Raptors
- Orlando Magic
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Golden State Warriors (from Minnesota Timberwolves)
- Orlando Magic (from Chicago Bulls)
- Sacramento Kings
- New Orleans Pelicans
- Charlotte Hornets
- San Antonio Spurs
- Indiana Pacers
- Golden State Warriors
The remainder of the first round:
- Washington Wizards
- Oklahoma City Thunder (from Boston Celtics)
- Memphis Grizzlies
- Oklahoma City Thunder (from Miami Heat via the Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, and Phoenix Suns)
- New York Knicks
- Atlanta Hawks
- New York Knicks (from Dallas Mavericks)
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Houston Rockets (from Portland Trail Blazers)
- Houston Rockets (from Milwaukee Bucks)
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Denver Nuggets
- Brooklyn Nets
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Phoenix Suns
- Utah Jazz
NBA Teams
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