The 2023-2024 National Basketball Association season kicks off Tuesday, Oct. 24 with two primetime matchups, including one between the defending champion Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers, who welcome back NBA superstar LeBron James, who considered retirement.
Opening Night: Tuesday features two games and four of the top contenders for the 2024 NBA Playoffs: the Denver Nuggets host the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors host the Phoenix Sun.
Both games will be broadcast on TNT, a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery WBD.
The Nuggets are favored by 4.5 points in the opening night game based on the line from DraftKings Inc DKNG. The Warriors are listed as one point favorites in the late-night tilt.
As the oldest player in the NBA at 38 years of age, James has played in his fair share of opening night games for the teams he has played for.
Over the 20 NBA season openers, James has a 7-13 record and last won his team’s opener in 2017. That might make bettors lean more to the Nuggets.
Looking at the prop bets, the sportsbooks list the over/under for James for points at 23.5, rebounds at 7.5 and assists at 6.5. Across his 20 season openers, James averages 25.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.4 assists. In his last two season openers, James scored over 30 points in each game and posted over 10 rebounds in each, securing double doubles.
A bet on James to get a double double pays out at +135 at DraftKings. In his 20 season openers, James has 10 double doubles.
Outside of opening night, here’s a look at some of the top storylines entering the season and some betting lines to consider.
LeBron 21st Season: Speaking of LeBron, at 38 years of age, James enters the season with the Lakers one of the favorites to win the NBA Championship, likely due in large part to the star’s play. The Lakers are listed at odds of +1200 to win the NBA Championship, ranking fifth.
James is also listed at odds of +5,000 to win the NBA MVP for the 2023-2024 season. James has won four regular season MVPs, four Finals MVPs and is a four-time champion. Could this year mark a return of hardware for James before he calls it a career?
Playing a 21st NBA season puts James in select company with Moses Malone, Kevin Garnett, Kevin Willis, Robert Parish, Vince Carter and Dirk Nowitzki as the only other players to reach the milestone. If James can average more than 7.4 points per game, he will become the leading point getter for the NBA's 21st season.
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Wembanyama Mania: The San Antonio Spurs won the 2023 NBA Draft lottery and secured the first overall pick. With the pick, the team drafted highly coveted French basketball player Victor Wembanyama. Described as a potential generational talent, fans and bettors are expecting big things for Wembanyama in the 2023-2024 season.
The Spurs are still expected to finish at the bottom of the league with odds of +50,000 to win the NBA Championship.
Wembanyama is the betting favorite to win Rookie of the Year at BetMGM, a joint venture of MGM Resorts International MGM and Entain, at odds of -145. Following Webenyama are Chet Holmgren at +350 and Scoot Henderson at +450.
The Spurs rookie averaged 19.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.8 blocks per game in four preseason NBA games. This is likely Wembanyama’s award to lose.
New Faces, New Places: There were several big offseason moves made for NBA teams including Damian Lillard joining the Milwaukee Bucks and Chris Paul joining the Golden State Warriors.
Paul, who started 59 games for the Phoenix Suns last year and has started in each of the 1,214 NBA games he has played in, could find himself coming off the bench in some of the Warriors games.
This potential realization has led to Paul being one of the people you can bet on for the Sixth Man of the Year award. Paul pays out at +1,600 and could quickly find himself as a popular bet if he comes off the bench in the Warriors’ first couple of games.
Denver to Repeat?: The Nuggets were the number one seed in the Western Conference last season and found themselves playing in the NBA Finals, beating the Heat in five games.
The Nuggets enter the 2023-2024 season as one of the favorites to win back-to-back NBA Championships with odds of +550. Ranking ahead of the Nuggets are the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks tied at +400 odds.
In the history of the NBA, only 20 teams have won back-to-back titles. The last time this was done was in the 2017 and 2018 seasons by the Golden State Warriors.
Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, who won the NBA Finals MVP last season, has also won the league MVP in two of the last three seasons, ranking second in last year’s vote.
Jokic is the favorite to win another MVP in the 2023-2024 season with odds of +450. Trailing behind Jokic are Luka Doncic at +600, Giannis Antetokounmpo at +600, Jayson Tatum at +700 and last year’s winner Joel Embiid at +800.
New York Knicks Playoff Drought Over: The 2022-2023 NBA season saw the New York Knicks not only make the NBA Playoffs, but win the first round. This marked only the second playoff appearance by the Knicks in the last 10 seasons, but also their first NBA Playoffs round win in 10 seasons.
The team also won two games against the Miami Heat before losing in six games. With the majority of the team’s scoring from last year back, the Knicks might become a popular bet by fans and bettors. The team is also popular for investors as a piece of the publicly traded Madison Square Garden Sports Corp MSGS.
Photos: Basketball, James, Shutterstock; Wembenyama, Thomas S via Wikimedia Commons; Denver Nuggets logo, vector69
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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