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Betting Guide
The NBA is an endlessly fascinating league and while the divisions might not mean as much as they once did, they are still a great oppportunity for betting.
Betting NBA Division winners is a fun bet as there are only five teams in each division. That can make each division race a tight one or a runaway. These bets can have a nice value and can really give you a rooting interest throughout the season .
This article is going to focus on NBA To Win Division bets and how best to bet them including the best sportsbook to do it at and the best strategy.
Where To Bet NBA To Win Division:
America: Bovada constantly keeps their NBA futures updated and offer odds on divison winners as well. You can also bet on the NBA MVP and much more through them.
Canada: A great site for betting NBA futures is Sports Interaction and they have you covered from NBA Championship to Conference winners to Division winners. They are also one of the best sites for betting on the NBA during the regular season with moneylines, over/unders, and more.
Everywhere Else: You’ll love the selection of NBA futures at 888 and it’s easy to see why they are one of the top sportsbooks in the game right now. You can not only bet Division Winners and Futures, but also multiple prop bets during the regular season.
What are NBA To Win Division Bets?
The NBA Conferences are divided into three divisions each. The Atlantic, Central and Southeast in the Eastern Conference and the Pacific, Southwest and Northwest in the Western Conference.
Sportsbooks set odds on the winner of each of these divisions before the season and update them throughout the year. You pick which team will finish the division with the best record and win the division.
The record of the team does not matter nor does their ultimate seeding in the playoffs. The only thing that matters is that they beat the other teams in the division and are crowned the division champion.
Common NBA Division Winner Questions:
What is the point of divisions?
While divisions have lost importance over the years as the NBA removed the automatic top-3 seed from the division winner, they still serve a very important purpose: travel.
Teams play the teams within their own division more during the season than they play teams outside of their division with the idea that teams within their own division are closer to them and thus it is better on the players bodies.
What was the worst NBA Division winner?
The worst division winner in NBA history was the Midwest Division’s Milwaukee Bucks in the 1975-76 season. This was their first season after trading Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Los Angeles, and were going through some growing pains. However, the team ended up winning the division with a 38-44 record that would have put them in last place or next-to last place in every other division in the NBA.
Can a Division winner miss the playoffs in the NBA?
In 2015, the NBA changed the rules so that division winners were no longer guaranteed a top-3 seed. Instead, they changed it so that teams are seeded 1-8 based on record in each conference. If a team in either conference was so bad that they didn’t finish with one of the best eight records in their conference, they would miss the playoffs. As of 2019, this has never happened. It is, however, possible.
How do ties work with NBA Division winners?
For the playoff seeding, the tiebreak rules would apply. The three main criteria are:
1. Head to head
2. Better division record
3. Better conference record
In that order. So for a division winner, it would be head to head and then conference record.
However, in the case of a tie for betting purposes it is best to check out your sportsbook and see what their rules are for tiebreakers. Many will consider it a push if two teams are tied to avoid paying both winners. While others will go with the tiebreaker. It can change from sportsbook to sportsbook so it is important to know what you are getting into here.
How To Bet NBA To Win Division:
Bovada: From the “Basketball” tab look below for the dropdown menu and select “Futures”. All of the available futures will be listed here including the NBA Division winners.
Sports Interaction: From the left sidebar click “BASKETBALL” and the drop down will link to NBA Futures. Click on that and see their full selection of futures including NBA Division winners.
888: Find “Basketball” from the SPORTS A-Z Menu and then click on NBA. From the top of that page you will see “Live & Upcoming”, “Outrights” and “All Basketball” at the top. Click “Outrights” to find the NBA Division winners as well as other futures bets.
NBA To Win Division Betting Strategy:
The best strategy for betting division winners is looking for teams that are hungry to win it.
For instance, in 2017-18 you had the Toronto Raptors who might not have been the best team in the Eastern Conference, but they knew to have a chance they needed that #1 seed. They played for it and outplayed two very tough teams in the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers to win the division.
This is a good example of a team that not only takes the regular season seriously, but had spent a lot of time together and jelled as a team. With so much free agency in the NBA now, a team with some level of consistency has a natural advantage over a newer team. Playing together matters.
It can be most profitable to find a division like this with a lot of competition and make that the one you are targeting. A division with only one good team is not going to have very good betting odds on that team. However, an open division with three teams that are all expected to vie for a playoff spot is a great one to look at because everyone’s odds will be lower. That said, it becomes a bit harder to pick and an injury could derail your bet!
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