7 Best Ways to Make Money from Betting on the NBA

One of the best sports to bet on is the NBA. There are tons of different games to bet on during the season, and the offseason is quite eventful as well.

If you’re looking for how to make money betting on NBA games, you’ve come to the right place. I will go over seven different ways for how to make money betting on the NBA.

There’s a good chance you’ve heard of these methods before, but don’t have a full understanding of them. Don’t worry, by the end of this post you’ll be an NBA betting expert.

You can win real money off the NBA, even if it’s the offseason. Without further ado, let’s get into the seven ways to make money from betting on the NBA!

Talk about an edge. Normally, the top NBA betting sites set the odds with confidence, but even the most reputable sites have to admit they aren’t always sure how things will unfold.

They’re obviously setting the price they think bettors will respond to, but as things first get going, nobody has a clue what will happen.

Why? Because these games don’t matter.

Teams will limit or rest their marquee players without hesitation, so your usual NBA betting strategy may not work here.

However, if you research how coaches and players operate during preseason play and keep tabs on NBA news (follow NBA team beat writers), you can gain a serious advantage in this type of basketball betting.

This is a tried-and-true season-long prop bet that bettors can attack before the current season ends, and that’s often talking about the next season’s Finals.

NBA Finals odds are made available extremely early at the top NBA betting websites, and they’re constantly updated throughout the year.

Regardless of when you feel like betting on the NBA Finals champion, you will usually have the ability to do so. Bettors may want to pick their timing wisely for this wager, of course.

The NBA can be fluid prior to the league’s NBA trade deadline each year, while placing bets before the summer’s free agency period ends is rarely suggested.

That being said, the NBA’s offseason usually paints a fairly accurate picture of who the top teams are and which NBA Finals sleepers could be worth backing.

Whatever your stance, you can bet on this wager virtually 365 days a year. You’ll just have to wait until the end of the NBA playoffs to find out if you won or not.

Sign up at a reputable sportsbook by following the steps below and bet on next year’s NBA Finals!

The art of NBA player prop betting should be mixed into your season-long NBA wagers.

As noted, you can bet on where players will be traded or play down the road, but the list of NBA player props doesn’t end there.

Individual awards like the coveted NBA MVP, Most Improved Player, Defensive Player of the Year, 6th Man of the Year, and even NBA Coach of the Year are among the best NBA player prop bets for you to target.

You can take advantage of early NBA odds by placing bets prior to the season, but as more information trickles out, you can still hedge your bets (or double down) with additional wagers.

Sometimes, the NBA can be predictable to the point where division winners or title favorites offer little to no value.

When that’s the case, NBA bettors can aim a little higher with NBA player props.

If you’ve asked how to make money betting on NBA games before, there’s a good chance someone told you about point spreads.

Spread betting is one of the most well-known types of sports wagers and is certainly one of the best ways to make some extra cash off your favorite sport.

It’s important to understand how all these betting methods work. For those of you unsure about what the spread is, let me catch you up to speed.

The top sportsbooks will put out the betting odds for each game a day or two beforehand. They dictate the spread and where it starts, and the public will shift the odds depending on if they lean too heavily to one side.

Let’s say for example that Boston is getting ready to face Portland. If the Celtics are the better team by a wide margin, they might be favored to win by ten-ish points. The odds for this game would look like the following:

So, if you bet on the Celtics’ spread, you need them to win by 11 or more points to cash out. If Portland stays within 10, then they cover the spread and you lose.

Not only are point spreads one of the best ways for how to make money betting on NBA games, but they can also tell you a lot about the game itself. If the spread is lopsided, a blowout is likely. The closer the spread is, the more intense the game will be.

You’ll find that the top sportsbooks are really good at setting the lines. However, there are moments where they make mistakes. There are times when they give the underdog too many points, or the favorite too little.

Your job is to recognize when they do this. Also, be sure to compare the best betting odds across the top sites. BetUS might offer Boston at -8.5 instead of -10.5 at Bovada.

In that case, it makes more sense to bet on the Celtics at BetUS.

Everything we just touched on can and should be applied to your search for that huge NBA upset pick.

Betting strictly on NBA underdogs probably isn’t the best idea just because it can backfire horribly, but sometimes there are very sneaky spots to target insane value.

When looking to bet on NBA upsets, there are five huge factors to consider.

• Price
• Matchup
• Schedule
• Fatigue
• Injuries

NBA betting odds are always going to dictate what you do to some extent. Be sure to shop around just like with any wager and work your way down from there.

Of course, be sure to dissect the matchup at hand so that you know how to view the prices for the game. Consider what major injuries are expected to have an impact, how tired players can be, and what their schedule has been like.

There is information online as far as which games are most likely to be “trap” games for every franchise, but you can do the digging pretty easily yourself.

Basically, if a team has played numerous games in a short amount of time — and/or if they’re coming off of a huge game or looking ahead to one — they could be physically or mentally ill-prepared.

Betting on NBA underdogs can be highly profitable, but it’s not guaranteed to always be sustainable. It’s best to pick your spots and try to refrain from always betting only on the major underdogs (+145 is a nice win, too).

If you’re wondering how to profit from NBA betting, consider betting on underdogs on a top sportsbook, such as Bovada.

Another popular way to make money from betting on the NBA is to pick a side on game totals.

The top NBA betting sites assign an overall total for points scored in the game, and bettors need to decide if it’s too high or too low.

Just like with most NBA wagers, be sure to do your research and know what big injuries to account for, as well as anything pertaining to player fatigue or schedule impact.

The next big thing to look for is team pace. Some teams rely on a slow, methodical offense, simply aren’t great at scoring, and/or try to beat teams defensively. The slower the pace, the fewer possessions you have to work with.

If one team plays fast and the other doesn’t, these offensive philosophies could cancel each other out.

Offensive and defensive efficiency are also very important to note, and you can add in shooting percentages, both inside and from long range.

The point is to build a strong case that one or both teams are going to struggle to score or dramatically slow the game down, or both teams can contribute to a very explosive shootout.

Ideally, betting on the over has both teams offering average or above average paces and capable, efficient offenses. If you can have one or both teams playing average-to-poor defense, that only helps.

It works the other way for the under, while pricing can be crucial no matter what the case is for either team. That’s where the eye test and hunting for elite NBA betting value once again come into play.

Lastly, consider trying live sports betting. This isn’t just about hedging previous bets, either (although it’s okay to do that a little bit).

Rather, betting on the NBA live is more about taking advantage of game momentum and line movement. If the Warriors open a game as 10-point favorites but are down by five at the break, their game line will almost certainly dip.

Perhaps now they’re no longer favored to win the game, or at a minimum, that 10-point spread shrinks drastically.

In-game injuries, team adjustments, and player performance can play into things swinging back the other way, while anyone who watches the NBA knows how much basketball can go back and forth.

One great NBA betting strategy to use with live NBA betting is noting how teams perform in the third and fourth quarters. Whether it be coaching adjustments, lineup changes, or just an overall team philosophy, some teams come out red hot to start second halves, and others tend to cave.

That’s just one sliver of information you can use to bet live on the NBA and hopefully do so successfully. More than anything, though, NBA live betting allows you to keep the game exciting (and potentially profitable) from start to finish.

The best live betting sites will always have the odds ready at your disposal.

As you can see, there is a lot that goes into trying to make money betting on the NBA.

Your options for betting on the NBA know no bounds, as you can wager on players and teams all year long or even bet on the games as they go.

Of course, this all circles back to what I opened with, and that’s first finding the best value at the most reputable basketball betting websites.

Finding which site is the best for you as an individual is a process you personally need to take on because every site can be different as far as bonuses, promotions, customer service, and payment methods go.

I won’t waste your time running through these websites to tell you where to bet, but all of these NBA betting sites check off the major boxes. Those would be safe, reputable, and elite in terms of pricing and promotions being offered.

I don’t think the point is to ever pick just one site to bet on the NBA, though. NBA betting is so volatile by nature that you will always want to keep your options open. That applies to wagers offered but also to pricing.

Hopefully, this post helps point you in the right direction in terms of where to bet and how to profit from betting on the NBA. Now that you know how to make money betting on NBA games, consider the same debate in the NFL betting realm.

How to Make Money Betting on the NFL

One way to make money betting on the NFL is to wager on preseason games. NFL bettors can also take advantage of point spreads, totals, and player props. Super Bowl betting is immensely popular and can be extremely profitable. Wondering how to make money...

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Footnotes:

• Pace statistics are courtesy of their official NBA website.