NBA Championship futures is a great way to hedge your regular season bets.
Explaining the NBA Playoffs
The NBA playoffs offer an entire second season of betting action for basketball at its highest level. Every game counts this time of the year. The cream begins to rise to the top in each round of the postseason. it’s a great time to consider betting futures.
The NBA is the only professional sports league where the favorites win the majority of the time in the playoffs. Out of 30 total teams, the top 10 in each conference qualifies for the postseason. The top six teams get a first round bye. While the next four teams face one another in the play-in round.
The conference quarterfinals start with the No. 1 seed in each conference facing the No. 8 seed. The rest of the teams are paired accordingly with 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5 matchups. The winners of those best-of-seven series move to the conference semifinals and then to the conference finals.
Looking at NBA Championship Futures
The remaining two teams from the East and West face another in the NBA Finals as the ultimate best-of-seven championship showdown.
Of the 20 NBA teams that do qualify for postseason play, only a handful or less have a legitimate chance to win it all. Back in the glory days of LeBron James and whichever team he played for or the Golden State Warriors at their best. There were pretty much two teams in the running for a world title.
Heading into this year’s NBA playoffs, there is now a bit more parity in the league.
However, the Phoenix Suns have established themselves as the team to beat as +275 favorites. Last year’s champion Milwaukee Bucks (+550) can be added to the list along with the star power on the Brooklyn Nets (+700). Both the Boston Celtics (+750) and Golden State Warriors (+850) are capable of making a deep run as the best teams in the second tier of top contenders.
NBA Futures Odds
After those five teams, the NBA futures odds to win this season’s championship start to get rather long.
You might be a big Joel Embiid fan as the face of the Philadelphia 76ers. They come into the playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the East with longer +1200 odds.
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As the No. 1 seed in the East, the Miami Heat’s futures odds to win a world title match Philly at +1200.
Small futures wagers on either of these two teams could be justified. But the probability of cashing that ticket has much longer odds than the prospect of earning that actual 12-to-1 return.
NBA Championship Futures – Go Chalk
One strategy for betting NBA championship futures is to go chalk on the favorite. Then double down on that bet with each subsequent round of the playoffs. You could go big on the Suns now at their longest odds of the postseason. If they keep winning as expected, you can buy in again at lower odds all the way through the finals.
A smarter strategy could be betting on the Bucks big right now as a proven commodity. The reigning champs have a legitimate chance to repeat with a winnable series against any team they will have to face along the way. Once again, you can double down on that bet with each series Milwaukee wins.
Unlike the NHL playoffs, where the best regular season team does not always win the Stanley Cup. The best NBA teams tend to play their best basketball of the season at the right time of the year.
