Most people do not win in the long term when betting on the NBA. Why is that you may ask? Because the NBA is such a popular league to bet on, it attracts some of the best sports bettors in the world.
This makes the bookies NBA betting odds a lot more efficient as they represent the opinions of millions of sports bettors, compared to other leagues and sports where much fewer people are betting.
So, in a betting market which is so competitive, what are some of the strategies you can try to beat the bookmakers and win some mone? I’ve got you covered below!
Reacting to News
As with any sport, if an important player is ruled out of a game through injury or illness, it will severely affect their chances of winning the game. So why not implement this into your NBA betting?
For example, if you think the LA Lakers vs Golden State Warriors is a 50/50 game, but two hours before tip-off Lebron James is ruled out through injury, it is not a 50/50 game anymore. So, if you’re fast enough to react to the news, you’ll be able to bet on the Warriors at a value price before their odds drop.

If you repeat this process enough when betting on the NBA, you will win in the long term. The key is being fast! I would recommend setting up some alerts on Twitter or another app that covers important NBA team news so you’re notified as soon as the news drops.
Are you wondering what other players in the NBA would really hurt their teams’ chances of winning if they were ruled out of a game? Here is a list of some of the best players in the NBA:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)
- Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)
- Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets)
- Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers)
- Luka Doncic - (Dallas Mavericks)
- Kawhi Leonard - (LA Clippers)
Getting the best odds
To be a successful NBA bettor, your primary focus should be on the betting odds. Don’t just bet at one bookmaker, open up as many betting accounts as possible and always take the best price on offer.
Imagine yourself at the supermarket doing your weekly grocery shop. If every loaf of bread tasted the same and had the exact same ingredients, but they were all owned by different brands and were different prices, what loaf would you buy? The cheapest one!
And it’s the exact same concept when you’re betting on the NBA. If you have lots of different betting accounts, you’ll be able to compare all of their prices and take the best NBA betting odds. This means if your bets wins you are maximising your winnings as much as possible and in the long term you will make more money!
Taking advantage of promotions and boosted odds

One of the ways bookmakers are trying to attract punters is by offering various promotions to lure them in. Here are some examples of promotions you may have seen:
- Boosted odds on same-game multi’s (SGM)
- Bet return if 1 leg of your 3 leg SGM fails to win
- Boosted odds on multi’s which combine several different games’ results
- Bet return if you team is winning by a certain number of points but loses
- Boosted odds on Stephen Curry to score 25 or more points
Taking advantage of these types of promotions maximise your winnings and minimise your losses when betting on the NBA. Just be wary of betting SGM’s and multi’s as you are multiplying the bookmakers’ margin which only makes the bet less profitable and valuable. In the long-run, you’ll probably have more success betting on NBA promotions which are single bets, like the last two examples on my list.
Finding outliers
Not sure which team or player you want to place a bet on? Have a browse through your various bookmakers and see if you can find prices which do not align with the rest of the bookmakers.
Maybe you’ll find that Sportsbet is offering Over 47.5 Points, Rebounds + Assists for Nikola Jokic, but every other bookmaker has set their line at 49.5. This would represent an outlier in the market, and an opportunity for you to side with the majority and bet on the 47.5 line with Sportsbet.
Similar to my second NBA betting strategy, the key to executing this strategy is having as many bookmakers as possible. More bookies equals more options, which only increases your chances of finding the best NBA betting odds!