Latest NBA Finals odds and betting lines

As the annual championship series of the NBA playoffs, there are inevitably plenty of betting options and markets available for basketball fans who want to place wagers on the NBA Finals.

Aside from a general futures bet on which team will win the series, numerous sportsbooks offer dozens of betting markets for every single game of the NBA Finals. These include (but are not restricted to) the moneyline, prop bets, point spread bets, and totals or over/under odds.

Some of these, such as the moneyline and prop bets, are also available to bet on during the NBA Finals for the series as a whole.

With no shortage of lines on offer, understanding the difference between the markets available for NBA Finals betting is important for helping you find the right wager. Read on to learn more about each of them in more detail.

A point spread is the number of points that a sportsbook thinks a team will win a match by. NBA Finals point spread bets therefore allow you to bet on a team to win or lose a game during the NBA Finals by a margin determined by the sportsbook.

As the NBA Finals are considered to be between the best two teams that season, the point spreads can be low. The favorite’s point spread is listed with a - in front of it, while the underdog’s point spread will be the same number with a + in front of it.

Here is an example of an NBA Finals point spread bet:

If you bet $100 on the Warriors in this scenario, they would have to beat the Raptors by five points or more for your bet to win. If you bet $100 on the Raptors, they would have either to win the game or lose by four points or less for your bet to win. As the odds are -110 in both cases, the payout for a winning bet would be $190.90 (your $100 bet plus $90.90 in profit).

NBA Finals totals or over/under bets aim to predict whether the total number of points scored by two teams in a NBA Finals will be greater than or less than a pre-determined total set by a sportsbook. The total set by the sportsbook will be based on a variety of factors, such as the teams' offensive and defensive analytics, recent performances, and injuries. You should also consider this information when placing a bet on such a market.

Here is an example of an NBA Finals totals or over/under bet:

In this scenario, if you bet $100 on the over, the two teams in Game 5 of the NBA Finals would have to score 227 points or more between them for the bet to win. If you bet $100 on the under, the two teams would have score 226 points or fewer for the bet to win. As the odds are -110 in both cases, the payout for a winning bet would be $190.90 (your $100 bet plus $90.90 in profit).

There are both team and player-focused futures markets available for the NBA Finals. These are normally opened in August (11 months before the Finals usually begin) and are available to bet on both before and during the campaign, meaning the odds can change over the course of it. Some further NBA Finals futures are also made available after the Conference Finals are completed and the finals matchup is set.

The most popular NBA Finals futures market is betting on which team will win the NBA Championship. You can bet on this before the season, during the regular season, or at any point during the playoffs. This involves simply betting on the team you believe will win the NBA Finals as a whole, rather than who will win an individual game.

Another popular NBA Finals futures betting market is the NBA Finals MVP market. In this market, you wager on the player that you think will win the MVP award at the end of the NBA Finals series.

Prop bets are additional bets that are unaffected by the outcome of a game. NBA Finals prop bets allow you to bet on almost anything that can unfold during an NBA Finals game that is not directly related to the final result.

This diverse bet type lets you wager on a wide range of unique markets, such as the first team to score 50 points in a match, or the total number of blocks and rebounds a player will accumulate in a game. The majority of prop bets focus on what might happen in an individual game, but some are available for the series as a whole.

Here is an example of an NBA Finals prop bet:

In this scenario, the Bucks are considered more likely to reach the 50-point mark first by the sportsbook, and are therefore priced at -145 favorites. This means that if you bet $100 and the Bucks scored 50 points before the Suns in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, you would get a payout of $160.89 (your $100 bet plus $60.89 in profit).