NBA betting wrapped: Thunder, 76ers, Lakers biggest stories of regular season

That’s a wrap on an NBA regular season that featured odds-defying performances and a blockbuster overnight trade that even stunned bookmakers.

Here’s a look back at the NBA season through a betting lens:

Thunder roll, 76ers roll over

The Oklahoma City Thunder were the best NBA bet in decades. The Thunder covered the spread in 68.3% of games this season, the best such mark in the past 35 seasons, according to ESPN Research. Despite growing lines, they went 18-3 against the spread to close out the regular season, covering the number in 11 straight games during a stretch in March and April. Oklahoma City was an underdog in just three games, the fewest of any team.

While the Thunder rolled, the Philadelphia 76ers struggled. The Sixers went 28-54 against the spread, covering the number in only 34.1% of games. Only two teams in the past 35 years — the 2003-04 Orlando Magic and 1995-96 Houston Rockets — had worse marks against the spread than this season’s 76ers.

The Los Angeles Lakers: ‘America’s Team’

There’s always been a certain aura around the Lakers, from their illustrious championship history to the revolving door of superstars on the roster, that has made them one of the NBA’s most perennially popular teams.

In any season, especially since LeBron James came to Hollywood, the Lakers would be a popular team to bet on. But that was sent into overdrive in February, when the team made the stunning trade for one of the league’s most admired players, Luka Dončić.

“If there’s one team that is America’s team when it comes to basketball, it’s the Lakers,” DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello told ESPN. “There’s fans just all over the country, all over the world I guess you might say. They’re really popular on our network, whether it is a weekly basis or the futures.

“They have been bet, not only prior to the trade but certainly after the trade, quite heavily.”

Indeed, both DraftKings and ESPN BET report that the Lakers attracted more total spread bets than any other team this season. Interestingly enough, both books also say that Los Angeles was their most-bet money-line underdog throughout the season, as they found themselves routinely receiving points prior to Dončić’s arrival.

“Despite their tear through the second half of the season, the Lakers found themselves as underdogs a decent amount in the first half of the year, especially as injuries piled up,” ESPN BET vice president of sportsbook strategy and growth Adam Landeka said. “Bettors were all over the Lake Show as an underdog and were often rewarded, as L.A. went 18-14 ATS this season.”

Dončić’s presence also made the Lakers a hot pick for championship futures, as the major sportsbooks report them as a huge liability in the market entering the playoffs.

Looking back, oddsmakers such as BetMGM’s Hal Egeland are still scratching their heads about the Mavericks trading away their franchise player to the Lakers. Egeland, who is based in New Jersey, said he woke up to about 100 messages on his phone on Feb. 2, the morning after the trade.

“I didn’t have that ‘Shams is hacked’ reaction, since the entire world was talking about it already,” Egeland said. “My initial thought was that there must be some scandal coming. Obviously, that has turned out not to be true, but that was my gut reaction.”

Sportsbooks acted quickly, taking the odds to win the NBA Finals off the board until they fully understood the trade. Egeland said BetMGM moved the Lakers from 40-1 to 18-1 overnight.

Egeland said he kept refreshing his social media feeds looking for the reaction. It was all the same: No one could fathom the Mavericks’ thinking.

“I can’t recall the internet being more aligned with anything sports-related in my life,” Egeland said.

The lovable underdogs

There were several teams that vastly outperformed bookmaker expectations and benefited any bettors brave enough to trust them this season.

One was the Portland Trail Blazers, who were the first team in the NBA to exceed their preseason win total this season, per ESPN BET lines, surpassing 21.5 wins on Feb. 4, their 51st game, and ultimately ending the season with 36 wins. Bettors at DraftKings backed them more than any other underdog on spread wagers this season.

Twenty-five of Portland’s outright wins came when they were underdogs, tied with the Chicago Bulls for the most in the league in that situation this season, and tied with two other teams (2018-19 Atlanta Hawks and 1994-95 Dallas Mavericks) for the fourth most over the past 35 seasons, according to ESPN Research.

Unlike the Trail Blazers, the Bulls were able to turn their late-season surge, which saw them pass 28.5 wins on March 17, into a play-in tournament berth, though they ultimately fell to the Miami Heat. Chicago was ESPN BET’s fourth-most-bet team on the spread throughout the season.

One of the most remarkable underdog stories of the season, though, belonged to the Detroit Pistons, who went from 14 wins during the 2023-24 campaign to 44 wins and a playoff berth in 2024-25. The Pistons were +1300 to make the playoffs entering the campaign, according to ESPN BET odds, and were ultimately the second team to go over their win total, passing 25.5 wins on Feb. 7, their 52nd game. They also had the largest over margin (18.5) on win totals in the NBA.

“I think we had a prop up last year, ‘Will the Pistons win nine games?’ That’s how bad things were going,” Avello said. “What a turnaround for them this year. For me, that’s probably the biggest surprise in the league.”

The usual suspects

Given the popularity of the Lakers, it should come as little surprise that LeBron James tops the list of the most-bet players for props at several sportsbooks.

It could also come as little surprise that Dončić is also generally a top-five most-bet prop player in the league, as he was hugely popular even before the trade. However, Avello calls two players on the same team both being so highly bet on props “kind of unusual,” though that was mostly a result of the trade.

Other than those Lakers, the most-bet players for props are a who’s who of the league’s superstars: Nikola Jokic, Jayson Tatum and Giannis Antetokounmpo all surfaced as the most-backed at ESPN BET and DraftKings.

“It’s always the same big-name guys,” Avello said. “The bettors like to bet guys that are consistent, that put up big stats … over the last maybe five years or so.”

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