How does NBA betting work?

Let’s get real.
When you think of basketball betting you’re probably thinking of the NBA!
When it comes to NBA betting you just need to keep two things on your mind:

1. What are NBA Odds and how they work.
2. The different types of NBA bets.

We’ll answer these questions quickly so that you can start betting on NBA games in no time!

What are NBA odds and how they work

NBA Odds tell us two things:

1. The probability of an event during an NBA game or during the NBA season
2. The amount of money you can win if you win your bet.

This is what NBA odds look like in most sportsbooks in the US:

These are also called NBA moneylines, NBA betting lines or NBA vegas odds.

The team with the minus (-) sign are the favorites.
In our example, the Suns are the favorites with odds of -295.
If you need to bet $295 to win $100.

The team with plus (+) sign are the underdogs.
In our example, this would be the Magic.
If you drop a $100 on the Magic and they win, you’ll win $240 and get back your hundo for a total payout of $340.

As you can see betting on the underdogs in the NBA gets you a better payout.

NBA Public Betting : The Influence of the General Public

Are you wondering what does public betting mean in the NBA?
The favorite in an NBA is called the public betting option.

If you choose to bet on the favorite in the NBA game, you’ll be betting with the public.
If you choose to bet on the underdog in the NBA game, you’ll be fading the public or betting against the public.

Many bettors choose to bet against the public for NBA games because you get better odds if you bet on the underdog.

We’ll give you some intel on NBA public betting on our NBA betting guide, so stay tuned for that!

The different types of NBA bets

#1 NBA Moneyline Bets

Now that you know how NBA odds work, you’re ready for your first NBA bet.

NBA moneylines are the easiest bets.
All you need to is to pick the winner after you check the NBA betting lines.

#1 NBA Spreads

Want an option to increase those moneyline odds?
Then you’re going to love betting on NBA point spreads!

What’s an NBA point spread?
We’ll answer by showing you a spread for a Celtics vs Hornets game:

In our example, you can see the odds on the far right for both outcomes (-110).
The 7.5 here is the spread.
The team with - sign are the favorites.
The team with + sign for the spread the underdogs.

A spread of -7.5 for the Celtics means that they are favorites to win by at least 8 points.
So, we decided to give the hornets an advantage of 7.5 points.

If you bet on the Celtics and they win by eight or more points, they’ll have covered the spread and you’ll win the bet.

You can choose to bet against this NBA spread if you drop a bet on the underdogs.

If you bet on the Hornets, and they either win the game or lose by fewer by 8 points, you win this NBA spread bet.

#3 NBA over under bets

NBA Overs and Under bets are bets placed on whether or not the total points during the game will be over a certain number.

This number is called the points line.
Check out this NBA over/under:

The points line is set at 236.5.
If you bet on over 236.5, you’ll win your bet if the total points will be at least 237.

If you bet on under 236.5, you’ll win your bet if the total points will be less than 237.
The odds for both outcomes are -110.

NBA teaser bets

Are you happy with those NBA odds?
If aren't, you can do something about it.

That green circle at the bottom of the screenshot is a slider.

Move it from left to right and you will see other options.
Here - we’ve done it for you.

We’ve moved the over/under line to 239 and hallelujah!
We have better NBA odds now!

These are called NBA teasers.
Use can use teasers for many different bets on Unibet.

One final point about NBA over/under bets before we move on.

In over/unders where the line is set on a whole number like 239 you can get a third outcome.

That third outcome is a push.
This happens if the game ends exactly on the line (239 in our example).
When you get a push you get your money back.

#4 NBA Prop Bets

Wondering what's a prop bet?

A prop is short for proposition bet,
Think of an NBA prop bet as a ‘what will happen’ bet.

When you’re betting on NBA games you’ll find two types of prop bets:

NBA Game Props

These are NBA props where you bet on things that might happen during the game.

Here are some examples of NBA game props on Unibet:

• Team to win Each Quarter
• Highest Scoring Quarter
• Total Points - Odd or Even?

NBA Player Props

NBA player props are props based around individual players.

You bet on which player might score the highest

• Total Number of Points
• Total Number of Assists
• Total Number of Rebounds

You can also bet on whether a player will score over or under a certain number of points.

Check out this NBA player prop bet we had on Jaylen Brown:

#5 NBA parlays

A parlay is bet where you combine multiple NBA bets into a big bet.

You can make make your picks for an NBA parlay across multiple games or make your picks in a single NBA game.

Here’s what a single game NBA parlay looks like:

For this NBA parlay our first pick is Jaylen Brown to score over 23.5 points.

The second pick in our parlay is a moneyline on the Celtics.

Each pick in this parlay is called a leg.
This would be a 2 leg NBA parlay because we have two picks for this one.

For us to win this parlay both our picks need to be a winner.

Now, we’re going to show you what a multi game NBA parlay looks like:

For this parlay, we built a 3-leg parlay across three NBA games.

All three of our picks for this NBA parlay are moneyline bets.

One of our picks includes a bet on the Hawks who are underdogs.

If we win this parlay we’ll walk out with $56.69 from a bet of 10 bucks.

That’s why bettors love parlays in the NBA , with that high risk they get a sweet payout!

NBA parlay promos and offers!

Looking for some offers on NBA parlay picks?

Check out our parlay offers on Unibet and use it for your next NBA parlay!