If you’re a hard-core hoops fan who’s eager to learn more about how to bet on NBA props, there’s no better place than Odds Shark. Our NBA prop betting guide explains all of the different types of prop bets available for the National Basketball Association.
In addition to showing you how to bet on NBA prop bets at your preferred NBA betting sites, we’ll also explore how to bet on NBA player props and game props, and provide sports bettors with expert NBA prop betting tips and strategy. We’ll leave the moneylines and point spread bets behind for now. It’s NBA prop game time.
How To Bet On NBA Prop Bets
NBA prop bets are almost as popular as Michael Jordan when it comes to betting on the NBA, especially when we’re talking about the NBA Finals. NBA prop bet examples include:
Types Of NBA Props
What Are NBA Props?
NBA prop bets are practically any kind of side bet that doesn’t necessarily have a direct correlation to the final outcome of an NBA game. NBA prop bets, or proposition bets, are more so for entertainment purposes. NBA props include individual player performances, exact scores, team win totals and more.
You’re clearly on this page to get a better understanding of the available NBA props, so we’ve sorted NBA prop betting into separate sections. That way, you can easily identify the different sorts of NBA prop bets offered.
How To Bet On NBA Game Props And Team Props
NBA team props are based around a particular team’s performance in the game and not the game’s result. The most common NBA team prop bets are based around a team’s points. You can bet on the first team to score, the first team to reach 30 points, or you can wager on the OVER/UNDER for a team’s points total. Team props let you focus more on the performance of one team as opposed to two.
Besides points, there are also rebounds, assists, blocks, turnovers and fouls per game, including metrics such as shooting percentage and three-point attempts per game. NBA team props can also consist of points in the paint or free-throw attempts. Similar to NFL props and MLB props, NBA props can vary from an individual matchup to a series or season. Common NBA team prop wagers include:
Regular-Season Win Totals
Another popular preseason prop bet is regular-season win totals. Sports betting sites online set a number for each NBA team on their regular-season win total. You get to bet on whether that win total will be higher than (OVER) or lower than (UNDER) the online betting site’s set number.
If Kevin Durant’s Nets have a regular-season win total set at 59.5, you can bet that Brooklyn will win 60 or more games or you can bet the other way if you think KD and company will win 59 or fewer games.
How To Bet On NBA Player Props
An NBA player prop is when you wager on whether a player will accomplish a specific achievement on the basketball court. NBA player prop betting is available for an assortment of NBA players in most NBA games, especially the game’s brightest stars. There are NBA player prop bets for almost every stat you’d find in a basketball game.
Points
The most popular NBA player prop is scoring. Any listed player will have an OVER/UNDER line for his scoring total, where you can wager on either side. Let’s use the Los Angeles Lakers vs the Golden State Warriors, for example. Stephen Curry’s point total is set at 35.5. If you’ve seen Chef Curry play basketball over the past five years, you’re likely betting on the OVER.
Let’s be honest, everybody loves a lot of offense, including the NBA. But if you believe LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the rest of the Lake Show can somehow manage to contain the greatest shooter of all time, then UNDER the Golden Gate Bridge is where you want to be. And by bridge we mean point total, of course.
Rebounds
Prop bets on rebounds aren’t quite as popular as points. And as you may have assumed, big men often own the rebounding category, unless of course we’re talking about a non-traditional big like the Greek Freak. Giannis Antetokounmpo is often considered as much a wing player for the Milwaukee Bucks as he is a big man despite the Shaq comparisons.
Assists
Another common NBA prop bet is how unselfish a player will be. The majority of assists will come from the point guard position, but LeBron James, Nikola Jokic and Draymond Green know how to drop dimes too.
Points + Rebounds + Assists
If you don’t want to bet on a particular player prop, you can always wager on a combination prop. Rather than hitting the OVER or UNDER in one specific statistical category, NBA combination props allow you to place bets on a player’s total points, rebounds and assists.
Double-Doubles And Triple-Doubles
No, this has nothing to do with coffee. For a double-double, a player has to score at least 10 points and grab at least 10 rebounds or dish out 10 assists. For a triple-double, a player needs to register double digits in all three categories (points + rebounds + assists). For someone like Rudy Gobert, you can replace assists with blocks, but 10 steals in an NBA game almost hardly ever happens (we see you, T.J. McConnell).
Players like Russell Westbrook, Luka Doncic and James Harden are known for racking up double-doubles and triple-doubles as they often contribute across the stats board. “Specialists” such as Carmelo Anthony (points), Tristan Thompson (rebounds) and Ricky Rubio (assists) are better served for individual props because they’re known as much for their “empty stats” as they are for what they actually do best.
Additional NBA Player Prop Bets
Basketball bettors can find other player props in different categories like three-pointers (Damian Lillard) and free throws (Ben Simmons), but none really compare to the popularity of points, rebounds and assists.
NBA Season Award Props
Most online sportsbooks also allow you to bet on seasonal performance awards such as the Most Valuable Player (MVP), Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved Player.
NBA Prop Betting Tips
A sound NBA prop betting strategy is key when wagering successfully. We suggest keeping it simple in the beginning. Wager on what you feel you know the best. Everything else will follow with continued research and repetition.
Odds Shark has endless amounts of basketball betting news to help you get an edge. Find free NBA picks, NBA futures, NBA scores, betting trends, power rankings, and NBA consensus picks to help you further comprehend how to bet on NBA props, and how to bet on NBA games all around.