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NBA Odds Legend
Point Spread
The point spread is commonly known as just the “spread,” and is the number chosen by sportsbooks that they believe will encourage an equal number of people to wager on the underdog and the favorite. The negative value (-7.5) means the team is favored by 7.5 points. The positive value (+7.5) indicates the lead given to the underdog before the game begins. In this example, the favored team must win by at least eight points in order to cover the spread. The underdog team can lose by seven points or win, to cover the NBA point spread.
What about the odds attached to the spread? For the above example, it would look like -7.5 (-110). This indicates how much you have to risk in order to win $100. This value is commonly called the vig or juice. At -110, it translates to risking $110 to win $100. This basically means the sportsbook will make a 10 percent commission to book that bet. If you win, you get it back. If you lose, you lose the bet plus the 10 percent commission. The underdog odds may be +7.5 (+105). This means that a $100 stake will return a $105 profit if your team covers the spread.
Moneyline
Mostly used in baseball and hockey betting, moneylines on NBA games have become more popular, especially in betting underdogs. This means that the NBA team you wager on simply needs to win the game, not necessarily 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).
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 or OVER/UNDER
Known better as the NBA OVER/UNDER, the total is a number set by oddsmakers estimating how many points they feel will be scored in an NBA game by both teams combined. More specifically, it is a number sportsbooks hope will encourage an equal number of bets 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’ll want the combined score of both teams to be 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 fairly popular and entertaining form of wagering. For the purposes of NBA betting, this translates into odds on who will win the NBA championship. Oddsmakers refresh and update futures odds all year long. If a team is leading the league, its odds will improve. If a team is slumping and suffering from injury problems, it will see its odds drop. For example, the NBA’s top team may be +300 to win the championship while the last-place team might have +50000 odds.
There are other types of NBA futures that 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!