7 Best NBA Sports Betting Tips [2024]

Looking to improve your NBA sports betting skills?

Easy tips and tricks to help you play, win and enjoy more!

The NBA is arguably the most popular American sports league not just within America but around the world. It is driving huge fans in China, widely popular in other Asian countries, and an increasing presence in Europe, North and South America and Australia/New Zealand. Supporting this expansion, is that the NBA continues to expand diversity of players with the current season holding the largest number of international players ever.

Its no wonder that there is a huge following around the world and followers simply love to bet on it. There are many reasons that placing a bet on the NBA is so appealing. They range from, the pace of play, the athleticism, the action and drama, the number of different types of betting options, and now, the speed of Daily Fantasy Sports.

In my personal experience, I love to watch the NBA games live big screen at a pub surrounded with a raucous crowd whom I don’t even know! Yelling and screaming at the screen, play by play knowing if my team or player gets up, I too will be a winner!

Given how popular the NBA and sports betting is, you would think that the majority of sports bettors would know basic tips and tricks for sports betting. But it’s clear that many Players are missing out on some really great NBA betting tips.

If you want to be a better NBA Sports Bettor, then read on for these 7 great tips.

Tip 1: Load management

Watch for Players on the load management alert

Being alert to he load management of players is extremely important is you plan to place a bet on number of wins for a team in the regular season. Load management is a term used to manage the minutes and number of games a player plays – typically a superstar. They do this in order to preserve the player for the playoff run, when their services are critically needed.

Therefore the team management reduces the playing time during the regular season to keep the risk of injury low, keep the wear and tear of the star player down. Once the playoffs arrive, the key players are relatively fresh for the playoffs. In order for this strategy to be successful, the team relies on a strong core players to ensure that they can even make it to the playoffs.

Individual players can make a huge difference. Therefore watch teams that will implement load management, and bet accordingly. For example, players such as Kawhi Leonard has a history of being placed under load management.

Tip 2: Team chemistry

Team chemistry is key to winning or losing

This tip is also for placing bets on a team through out the season. Given that basketball only has five players on the court at once, team chemistry is absolutely critical. A team that is successful is only as strong as the weakest link. Therefore without good team chemistry, the weakest link will remain exposed and remain weak. An example of poor chemistry, was the Boston Celtics from last season who had Kyrie Irving. His disruptive personality, destroyed all hope of the Celtics making it to the playoffs.

Be wary of team chemistry and trouble maker players. Players who have a history of disrupting team chemistry will usually continue to do so on any team.

Tip 3: Injury prone

Some players are more injury prone than others

In placing bets on teams, you need to consider if players on the roster are injury prone. Particularly for star players whom can influence strongly the outcome of the game. Take for example, Gordon Hayward of the Celtics. He is a superb player but has undergone many injuries in the past couple of years. Whether by sheer bad luck, it’s clear that he is injury prone, and hence bet accordingly on the team that he is on – currently he is on the Celtics and has a broken wrist.

Therefore take note of players that are coming off injury. Usually these players will become injured again, if they are immediately used to play big minutes.

Tip 4: Tanking

Teams at the bottom of the barrel will tank

Placing bets on teams towards the end of the season, need strong consideration to the teams standing on the ladder. The NBA has a draft pick policy, whereby the weaker teams that have landed at the bottom of the standings ladder has a great opportunity of having higher draft picks. This means, once a team knows they have no hope of making the players offs, or even simply compete competitively day in day out, the team management may deliberately throw games away in order to secure a bottom place on the standings ladder. The process of throwing games away, to get better draft picks is called tanking.

Teams that tank become more and more obvious as the season progresses. Therefore when placing an NBA sports bet on a team, take into account how much of the season has past, and potential tanking by teams.

Update Nov 2019: We are just reaching 20 games into the NBA season, and it’s clear the Golden State Warriors will be tanking. With the loss of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson still recovering from injury, the Warriors have no chance of making the playoffs, let alone stay competitive day in day out.

Update Dec 2019: The New York Knicks have just fired their coach, and it’s clear that the season has finished for them. The entire structure of the team is simply wrong. To make the case for tanking even more apparent, the lost a winnable game against the Indiana Pacers – 104-103. The Knicks missed 13 of their last 14 shots. Clearly the season is over, and it’s time to tank for next season.

Tip 5: On the road

On the road is hard to win

Teams on the road, generally find it harder to win. The home team usually has the advantage with the crowd cheering for them. The home team also has the luxury of being more accustomed to the home court. Some teams, such as the Denver Nuggets have the advantage of being acclimatized to the high altitude! If you don’t believe me, then read this article written by Joel Rush for Forbes.

Tip 6: Choosing a MVP

The MVP is on a winning team

Betting on the season MVP is not easy. There are many great players to choose from and it is highly subjective. But there is one theme or unspoken rule, and that is the MVP usually comes from a winning team. There is no hard and fast rule of what a winning team means for an MVP to be selected from, but if the team doesn’t make the playoff, more often than not, the MVP will not be selected from that team.

Hence, if you are planning on betting on the season MVP, pick a player who will most likely be on a team that makes the play offs.

Update Nov 2019: Luka Doncic has had a blistering start to the season, with much discussion surrounding his potential to be the youngest MVP ever. A dark horse before the season began, the odds of a sophomore greatly exceeding their rookie season play is not high, let alone be in the mix to be the MVP. However, Luka Doncic is doing it! Although the season is still young, he has demonstrated that he is a triple double machine, and if he continues at this pace, there is a high chance he could win MVP. The Mavericks also, is on track to make the playoffs, and if they do this should augment Doncic’s chances. Placing a bet on Luka Doncic becoming MVP is a value bet.

Update Dec 2019: Luka Doncic has been on fire! And his odds are clearly shorting. Previously ranked just inside the top 10 players to win MVP, behind the likes of:

Giannis Antetokounmpo
Lebron James
James Harden
Anthony Davis
Kawhi leonard
Nikola Jokic
Chris Paul
Paul George/Joel Embiid
and Damian Lillard.

You could argue that Luka is just behind Giannis “the Greek Freak” who is literally pushing his team forward with his sheer will. Having said that, the Maverick’s are the surprise package for this season. Winning their last 9 out of 10 games, if anyone could have predicted this, I wouldn’t believe you. Is their still value behind Luka Doncic winning the MVP for this season. I believe so. Luka is on fire, and so far no team has been able to work out how to stop him.

Tip 7: East vs West

The West is generally stronger than the East

In this season is it less pronounced from other season, but in general it still holds true. The West teams are overall better than the East teams. The West, this season, is a toss of the dice for who will make it to the play offs, however for the East, the teams to succeed are more clear cut. This is because the East has weaker competition and the two teams to be considered a shoe in to make the players are the Sixers and the Bucks.

Conclusion

NBA sports betting is heaps of fun. But you also want to be able to pick the best NBA sports bets to compliment the entertainment. If you are a seasoned NBA fan, these Best 7 NBA sports betting tips will resonate with you, and should be common sense. For others that are new to the NBA, I hope these tips help! Enjoy!