NBA Futures Betting – Strategy, Odds and Where to Bet
If you’re tired of having to stress about Giannis Antetokounmpo making a triple-double, or Orlando Magic coming up with +25 rebounds in a specific game, then NBA futures betting is the way to go.
NBA futures don’t pay out until the end of the season, leaving fans free to just enjoy basketball games. So, if this sounds like you, read on to discover the best sportsbooks for NBA futures. We’ll explain how the odds work; assess outright bets for the team, player, and NBA Draft, and unpack everything you need to know about the market.
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Claim Now 2023 NBA Finals Champion Odds Comparison
Below is an updated NBA futures 2023 odds table detailing the current betting odds available on teams to win the NBA Finals.
In terms of which sportsbook offers the best NBA futures odds, there wasn’t a huge difference. But, Bovada and BetOnline (+ sister site Sportsbetting.ag) do currently offer slightly better NBA Finals futures odds than the competition, overall.
With that said, we can’t stress enough the importance of shopping around NBA sportsbooks to look for the best NBA futures odds since some sportsbooks boast better lines on certain teams than others. Plus, the more NBA betting apps you register an account with, the more sign-up deals and risk-free bets you get to take advantage of throughout the season.
NBA Team Standings & Stats
NBA Futures Betting Sites Reviewed
You can check out how we arrived at our decisions regarding the best sportsbooks for NBA betting futures by reading the reviews below.
Some sites provide more optionality or marginally better odds than others. But all do their best to broadcast NBA futures odds quickly and offer lucrative welcome bonuses to newcomers. These bonuses can then be used to bet on NBA futures lines.
1. Bovada – Deep Markets for NBA Futures Bets
When it comes to game day, NBA live betting, and especially NBA futures, this is a basketball site and app that’s ahead of the game.
Bovada NBA futures tend to be highly competitive, offering NBA Vegas odds. So, users will – more often than not – be getting the best possible value on their chosen lines. This includes NBA Finals futures and NBA MVP futures.
On top of that, Bovada is offering lines on the Finals MVP, as well as plentiful options for NBA Draft futures once we get to June 23rd. It’s also possible to wager on the highest scorer, most rebounds, most assists in a season, as well as all the NBA team futures you’d expect to see – division winner, conference champion, et al.
What we like:
- Deep markets for NBA futures, especially the players’ markets
- Stats and metrics are available at the click of a button
- Bovada NBA futures run on Las Vegas odds and are highly competitive
What we don’t:
- Other sites provide more optionality on NBA team futures
2. BetOnline – Great Odds on NBA Futures
The newly updated and reinvigorated BetOnline is our pick for the best NBA futures betting site. The sportsbook has always offered top odds – it just looked more like an online broker’s platform than it did an NBA betting app until the recent improvements.
BetOnline has definitely come on a long way in recent months and, now that the aesthetics match the lines and odds, it’s certainly worthy of your consideration!
More importantly, BetOnline has always provided bettors with deep NBA futures markets. The team and players markets serve up a multitude of betting options, including the championship and conference winners for the teams’ market, and MVP, Finals MVP, and much more in the players’ market. BetOnline also allows users to wager on futures in the NCAA and WNBA, again at highly competitive odds.
This sportsbook also offers a potential $1,000 welcome bonus to any new customer. So, all in all, you could do a lot worse than BetOnline. It’s certainly one of the best offshore sportsbooks for betting on NBA futures.
What we like:
- Updated app and site is much improved on the old version
- Futures available for NBA, Olympics, and WNBA
- NBA Finals MVP odds up early and at good value
- $1,000 welcome bonus
What we don’t:
- Prop markets are not as deep as competition and can be tough to navigate
3. Everygame – NBA Futures Betting Simplified
This sportsbook might not offer the same level of optionality as some of the competition when it comes to game day and live-in-play betting, but Everygame does broadcast generous odds for NBA futures bets (including NBA Draft futures). Plus the markets tend to get real deep real fast during the NBA offseason… it’s just that the site does take its sweet time getting the NBA betting lines to market.
We expect plenty more optionality at Everygame once this current season comes to an end – the two previous sites we reviewed (BetUS and the Bovada sportsbook) are very prompt indeed, so there’s little shame in lagging slightly behind these two. Plus, Everygame was one of the fastest of all sportsbooks to get its WNBA futures odds up on the site – which is good-going.
What we like:
- Easy site to navigate; fewer options but more streamlined
- NBA odds for futures are very competitive
- WNBA Futures were up quickly
What we don’t:
- Slower to broadcast NBA futures odds than some of the competition
- Lack of optionality in prop market for game day bets
4. MyBookie – Early to Broadcast NBA Futures Odds
A sportsbook that serves up plenty of options, a futures market with genuine depth, and that is quick to market with its NBA team futures odds too, MyBookie is well worth your consideration if you’re planning on making an outright bet.
With respect to how quick this site is to market, MyBookie broadcast NBA futures game lines for the 2023 NBA Finals (Bucks vs. Suns) whilst the conference championships were still underway and were equally rapid when it came to getting their NBA Futures for 2023 up at the beginning of the regular season. It is one of the best sportsbooks for NBA Coach of the Year odds.
On top of that, MyBookie’s parlay betting feature enables patrons to boost their odds by betting on multiple NBA futures lines either prior to or during season.
What we like:
- Tons of options for NBA futures, particularly as the upcoming season draws nearer
- Parlay betting feature can be used in conjunction with NBA team/player futures
- $1000 deposit bonus for new users
- Competitive NBA futures odds
What we don’t:
- Not as quick to market with NBA players’ futures as it is with teams’
5. BetNow – Wager on the NBA Using Crypto
With a Curacao license and just over 5 years of experience, BetNow easily makes it as one of the most trustworthy NBA Futures betting sites available to US bettors. With a decent selection of BetNow promo codes getting released regularly, the bookie surely doesn’t skimp on boosting customer bankrolls. The bonus section has a little something for just about every type of bettor.
BetNow features a top-notch mobile betting site, allowing you to access its full range of NBA markets on the move with a few finger swipes. Many US bettors prefer to create a web app and use the mobile website instead of the desktop platform.
While several payment methods are available, Bitcoin is an easy winner. It has the highest deposit and withdrawal limits and quickest transaction time frames. Other popular crypto banking methods like Tether and Ethereum aren’t available yet but we’ll likely see them soon as BetNow expands its cashier section.
BetNow has a decent customer support system going on, but the only challenge is you have to sign up to get the finer details on pretty much everything. You can contact the support team 24/7 via phone, live chat, and email.
What we like:
- Several promotions
- Innovative VIP program
- Nifty mobile website
- Decent odds
What we don’t:
- Comprehensive support requires sign-up
6. BetUS – Unique NBA Futures Bets
Both the BetUS site and app look fantastic. The sportsbook broadcasts very competitive odds for NBA futures, and the lines available rival anything else out there.
Where futures are specifically concerned, BetUS allows its users to wager on NBA outrights long before the season gets underway. The site currently has NBA futures lines open for the conference and championship winners, as well as MVP, most points scored, and with much much more to be added as the new 2022-23 season approaches, it’s well worth a visit – even if just to assess if you like it as much as we do.
On top of that, BetUS also has early NBA futures available for lines that are unseen elsewhere (anywhere!). Patrons to the site could wager on NBA player futures for 2023 even while the 2022 campaign was in full swing, and we’ve seen markets for ‘how many triple-doubles will Russell Westbrook get in the 2022-23 season,’ and ‘Will LeBron be named MVP?’ plus many more.
What we like:
- Tons of options for NBA futures, including many wagers not seen elsewhere
- Early to broadcast NBA futures odds
- Parlay betting feature can be used in conjunction with NBA futures markets
- Stats and metrics are available at the click of a button from sportsbook betting pages
What we don’t:
- Sometimes there’s so much optionality that you can find yourself getting a little lost
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Put simply, wagering on the NBA futures market is when a bettor aims to make money by predicting an outright result way in advance of its conclusion.
Because, say, betting on the championship winner during the offseason is such a hard prediction to get right, the odds on NBA futures tend to be very tempting.
To all intents and purposes, NBA futures are split into two separate categories: team & player.
NBA Futures Lines for Teams
There is a multitude of optionalities available when it comes to NBA futures bets. The first to appear on the majority of sportsbooks tend to be NBA team futures, which are as follows:
NBA Championship Futures
The outright NBA finals odds can be released within a month of the previous year’s championship games. This season’s NBA Finals take place from April 9, 2023, so expect to see updated NBA lines and odds as the games progress.
As with this season, this moneyline will remain open throughout the NBA campaign. But expect to see the odds shorten and drift throughout, as teams hit and lose form.
NBA Conference Championship Futures
Most sportsbooks release odds for the conference championships not long after they do the NBA finals since, by this point, oddsmakers already have a pretty firm idea of the best and worst teams. It’s not like a team can win the Finals without winning the conference finals after all.
On the off chance that you’ve made your way to this page as a complete newcomer to the NBA, the league is split into two separate conferences: the Eastern Conference & the Western Conference, with each crowning its own champion ahead of the East vs. West clash in the finals.
NBA Division Championship Futures
Each conference is split into three divisions. In the East, these are the Atlantic, Central, and Southeast divisions, while the Western Conference also has three divisions, namely the Northwest, Pacific, and Southwest.
There are five teams in each division and, at the best NBA betting sites, it’s possible to wager on the moneyline for your pick to win each division. You might even scope the NBA power rankings at the beginning of preseason and make a parlay bet on the Los Angeles Clippers to win a clean sweep of honors: Pacific Division champions; Western Conference champions, and NBA Finals champions, for example.
Betting On NBA Division Winners
Over 70 years ago in 1949, two rivaling basketball associations the BAA and NBL merged to form the NBA. At that time the league was made up of just 17 teams and three divisions: Eastern, Central, and Western division.
After a rough ten years for the NBA, during the 1960s the game grew in popularity and more teams began to enter the league. In 1970 the Western and Eastern Conferences were born. However, it wasn’t until 2004 when the now Charlotte Hornets joined the league that it was aligned into the six divisions we have now which are Atlantic, Central, Southeast, Northwest, Pacific, and Southwest.
In the next section, we will take a look at the recent history of each division, what NBA betting lines are available, and offer up our picks on who we think will end up on top, starting with…..
Atlantic Division
The five teams currently competing in the Atlantic division are Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76rs, and Toronto Raptors.
In the last decade, the Raptors have had the most division wins with six out of the last ten seasons, last winning the championship in 2018-19. However, historically the Boston Celtics have been the most dominant team and have seen a resurgence in the last two seasons, narrowly missing out on the Championship last year.
The Celtics are the favorites to win according to NBA betting sites and we can see why: they kept their best players offloaded some deadwood and picked up the solid Malcolm Brogdon. However, with tough competition in the forms of the 76ers and the Nets, it’s hard to call.
However, if you want our pick for the division, the Nets have three of the best players in the league in Simmonds, Durant, and Irving, plus, being that they are about +100 over the Celtics, the value line is on the Nets to pip it.
Team +105 +130 +134 +130 +134 +120 +200 +200 +199 +225 +199 +225 +300 +275 +300 +275 +300 +275 +1400 +1500 +990 +1100 +990 +1100 +6600 +6000 +6000 +6600 +6000 +6600 Central Division
The five teams that make up this division are the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, and the Milwaukee Bucks. In terms of NBA futures betting on Division winners, this is the safest division with a clear favorite.
The Bucks have dominated this division recently winning the last four division titles and the NBA finals in 2020-21. In the four years previous to the Bucks winning, it was Cleveland who dominated, winning four in a row, plus one Championship when LeBron was on their roster. The other teams in this division have historically been great but they have not been real contenders for some time.
For the 2022-23 season, the Bucks are by far the favorites according to NBA betting odds, which is little surprise given “The Greek Freak” Giannis Antetokounmpo has averaged close to 30 points and over 11 rebounds for the last two seasons when leading the lineup. Plus, with Middleton And Holiday also on their roster, we just don’t see any other team getting a sniff.
Team -325 -250 -284 -260 -284 -260 +350 +275 +340 +300 +340 +300 +550 +650 +660 +750 +660 +750 +20000 +20000 +15000 +12500 +15000 +12500 +25000 +30000 +22000 +20000 +22000 +20000 South East Division
The final division in the Eastern Conference consists of Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and Washington Wizards.
The Miami Heat have won eleven out of the eighteen South East Division titles and were the winners last season. The Eastern Conference Final between the Heat and the Celtics last year was an intense back and forth, with Boston just taking it by four points in game seven.
Jimmy Butler has been one of the best wings in the NBA since joining the heat, and with a solid team around him, including the powerhouse “Bam Bam,” the Heat are a safe bet to clinch the South East Division. Their stiffest competition is Trae Young and the Hawks but overall your NBA futures betting money is safest on the Heat.
Team -165 -170 -186 -165 -184 -165 +155 +170 +191 +165 +189 +165 +1000 +1500 +1200 +1400 +1225 +1400 +2500 +2500 +3000 +3300 +3000 +3300 +25000 +20000 +15000 +7500 +15000 +7500 North West Division
The first Western Conference division we will look at in the North West division is made up of the Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Utah Jazz. This is an interesting division for NBA online betting as there is a clear favorite but also another team with a decent chance of clinching division honors.
For the last two seasons, the Jazz have taken the title. But this summer saw some big changes to their roster. Two of their best players Gobert and Mitchell were traded and this has left the team nowhere near as strong as before. The Nuggets finished a close 2nd to Jazz in each of the last two seasons and won the previous two, and have arguably the best Center in the league in last season’s MVP, Jokic.
As well as Jokic, Denver has the agile Murray returning after a serious ACL injury. Plus they have two of the best raw talents in the NBA in Porter Jr. and Hyland. For this reason, we foresee that the Nuggets will win the division. However, If you want to take a slightly riskier bet with improved NBA betting odds, the Timberwolves’ addition of Gobert to their squad gives them a decent chance.
Team -140 -140 -140 -145 -140 -145 +150 +140 +141 +140 +141 +140 +1000 +1000 +810 +1400 +810 +1400 +15000 +20000 +4000 +5000 +4000 +5000 +20000 +25000 +13000 +20000 +13000 +20000 Pacific Division
The Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, and Sacramento Kings are the five teams to make up the Pacific Division. This is by far the most competitive division with four out of the five teams in with a decent chance and three who have almost identical NBA betting odds.
GSW are the current NBA champions and have won five of the last ten division titles. However, it was the Phoenix Suns that won the division title last year with an impressive 64-18 record. As well as these two powerhouses, you have the Clippers with the returning Kawhi Leonard who missed all of 2022 due to injury. Plus with their pedigree, you cannot write off the Lakers.
This is a really tight race between GSW, Clippers, and Suns, with NBA sports betting sites also undecided about who is the favorite to win the division. Any one of them is a good choice to back but we favor the Clippers slightly, due to their squad depth and the return of Kawhi “The Claw” Leonard.
Team +185 +180 +206 +200 +206 +200 +190 +200 +200 +200 +200 +200 +185 +225 +191 +215 +191 +215 +850 +800 +890 +750 +890 +750 +25000 +25000 +20000 +15000 +20000 +15000 South West Division
Last up we have the South West Division with Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, and San Antonio Spurs.
The Grizzlies took the honors of division winners last year, and after having the phenomenal Ja Morant sign a 5-year extension and making some solid trades during the offseason, will go into this new campaign full of confidence. The Dallas Mavericks of course have their own star in Luka Doncic but did lose Jalen Brunson. And, while the Pelicans only have one division title to their name, they will be spurred on by the return of Zion Williamson.
This is another tough division to call with most NBA betting lines having Memphis as the slight favorites ahead of the Mavericks, then New Orleans in third with the Rockets and Spurs huge outsiders. We have to agree with the sportsbooks on this one and think the electric Morant with Jackson Jr., Bane, and co, have the edge over the other teams.