Wembanyama Mania Is Here: NBA Rookie Draws More Viewers Than LeBron James — Betting Odds Breakdown

One of the key storylines for the 2023-2024 National Basketball Association season is already unfolding, as rookie Victor Wembanyama garners heightened attention.

Here's a look at the NBA rookie's first game and future betting odds.

What Happened: Wembanyama’s premiere game this week drew a huge number of viewers, overshadowing the first game of the Los Angeles Lakers and NBA star LeBron James' 21^st NBA season.

In his NBA debut, Wembanyama put up a stat line of 15 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block Wembanyama's San Antonio Spurs lost to the Dallas Mavericks 119 to 126 in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,947 people.

The young NBA player got in early foul trouble and had to sit for parts of the game, not something that bettors likely loved. Wembanyama was a popular betting pick for the game with opening lines of 17.5 points, 8.5 rebound and 2.5 blocks, three marks he failed to clear.

Wembanyama's 15 points, two assists and 6 of 9 field goal shooting was identical to the debut of former Spurs legend Tim Duncan. Like Wembanyama, Duncan was also the first overall NBA Draft pick. Duncan went on to win two NBA MVPs, five NBA Championships and was a 15-time All-Star during his 19-year NBA career spent entirely with the Spurs.

The debut game of Wembanyama was closely followed by bettors and also posted big viewership numbers. The game, which aired on Walt Disney Company DIS owned ESPN, averaged 2.99 million viewers, according to SportsMediaWatch.

This marked the most-watched NBA Opening Week game for ESPN since 2018. The game also beat both of the NBA Opening Night games, which aired on Warner Bros. Discovery WBD owned TNT.

The Opening Night games featured marquee matchups of the defending champion Denver Nuggets against James' Lakers, a game that averaged 2.84 million viewers. The other Opening Night game between the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors, was watched by an average of 2.71 million people.

This marked the first time the Opening Night games were not the most-watched in the NBA opening week since 2018.

James still holds an edge over Wembanyama for his NBA debut game, which averaged 3.03 million viewers on ESPN in 2003.

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What's Next: While Wembanyama failed to hit the over on his betting totals in his first game, he will likely be a popular bet going forward.

The Spurs take on the Houston Rockets on Friday, Oct. 27, a game which sees the home Spurs favored by three points at sportsbook DraftKings Inc DKNG.

Here are the current lines for Wembanyama at DraftKings for his second NBA game:

• Points: 17.5
• Rebounds: 6.5
• Assists: 2.5
• Three Pointers: 1.5
• Blocks: 1.5
• Points, Rebounds Assists Combined (PRA): 26.5

The Spurs remain a long shot to win the 2023-2024 NBA Championship, with odds of +50,000.

Wembanyama is the favorite to win the Rookie of the Year at BetMGM, a joint venture of MGM Resorts International MGM and Entain, at odds of -145. The Spurs rookie is also the fifth favorite to win Defensive Rookie of the Year at odds of +1,000.

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