Two new states launched online sports betting this year and a whole other country did too, and with that comes secondary markets that bettors may find substantial edges with.
Ahead of the NBA playoffs, fans in New York, Illinois and Ontario (Canada) will find interesting props with onshore books for the first time in their lives.
Among those include never-before-seen series player props like “Series Leaders in Points” or “Series Leaders in 3s Made.” DraftKings in particular has a secondary market that matches up players as to how many points they’re expected to score in a given series or over the entire playoffs writ large.
For example, as of Monday night, with the play-in games yet to be finalized, the sportsbook has two player prop matchups available for bettors.
More lines will be released as the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds are finalized.
Both lines that are available now involve the No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 seed matchup in the East: 76ers vs. Raptors.
DraftKings has Gary Trent Jr. as a -160 to score more points during the series than Tyrese Maxey (+130). Trent Jr. averaged 0.8 more points per game than Maxey did during the regular season — at a lower sample size. Maxey put up 17.5 points per game in 75 games while Trent Jr. posted 18.3 points per game in 70 games.
The other matchup player prop for that series involves Pascal Siakam vs. James Harden. Harden is the underdog at +120 to score more points than Siakam (-150).
Harden, a midseason acquisition for Philadelphia, averaged 21 points per game over 21 games with the Sixers. That was behind Joel Embiid for second-best on the team.
Siakam was Toronto’s leading scorer throughout the season with 22.8 points per game during 68 contests, good for a top 15 mark in the NBA.
Other longterm player props that bettors might be interested in involve many of the big names involved going forward.
DraftKings is offering a pre-playoff potpourri regarding who you think will score the most points throughout the entirety of the playoffs.
Those include:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (-150) vs. Joel Embiid (+120)
- Jayson Tatum (-115) vs. Donovan Mitchell (-115)
- Jayson Tatum (-130) vs. Ja Morant (+100)
- Nikola Jokic (-110) vs. Joel Embiid (-110)