NBA Odds Legend
Point spread
Commonly called the line or NBA spread, it is the number chosen by online sportsbooks that they believe will encourage an equal number of people to wager on the underdog as on the favorite. The negative value (-7.5) means the team is favored by 7.5 points. The positive value (+7.5) indicates an NBA odds underdog of 7.5 points. In this example, the favorite (or chalk) team must win by at least 8 points in order to cover the spread. The underdog team can lose by 7 points and still cover the NBA point spread.
What about the moneyline portion attached to the spread? An example would be -7.5, -110). This indicates how much you have to risk in order to place the bet. This value is commonly called the vig or juice. At -110, it translates to risking $110 to win $100. It’s basically a 10% commission paid to the sportsbook to book that bet. If you win, you get it back. If you lose, you the bet + the 10% commission. The underdog may be +7.5, +105. This tells you that a $100 stake will return a $105 profit if your team covers the spread.
Moneyline
Traditionally used in baseball and hockey betting, NBA moneylines have become more popular, especially in betting underdogs. There is no point spread associated with the moneyline. So the NBA team you bet on just has to win the game, not win by a specified number of points. Just like a point spread, negative values denote the favorite, (-200) and positive ones indicate an underdog (+180). Picture the number 100 sitting in the middle of these two values and moneylines become easier to understand.
Example: if you want to bet that -200 favorite, you would wager $200 to win $100. Betting the underdog, you would risk $100 and win $180 if the underdog wins the game straight up. It's a way to replicate the risk-reward scenario without the benefit of a point spread.
Total
Known better as the NBA over/under, it’s a number set by oddsmakers in estimating how many points they feel will be scored in an NBA game by both teams combined. More correctly, it is a number sportsbooks hope will encourage an equal numbers of bettors on the over as on the under. Regardless of the oddsmaker’s logic, here is what you need to understand. If you wagered under 204.5, you want the combined score of both teams to less than 204 (example 103-96 = 199 is less than 204.5). If you bet over the NBA total, you are hoping for a 110-100 final score which would be 210 total points.
Futures
Betting on an event in the future is a popular and fun form of wagering. For NBA purposes, this translates to odds on who will win the NBA championship. Oddsmakers refresh and update future odds all year long. If a team is hot and leading the league, their odds will improve. If a team is slumping and suffering from injury problems, they will see their odds drop. For example, the NBA’s top team may be 3/1 to win the championship while the last-place team might be 500/1 odds.
There are other types of NBA futures which will be appearing on Odds Shark in the near future. Odds to win the NBA Eastern Conference and Western Conference will be included. As well, future props on who will win the NBA MVP and other fun futures will be added, so bookmark us and stay tuned!
