NBA Summer League Betting Odds

Michael Crosson Sports Betting Expert

4 minute read

We’ve officially reached the dog days of summer on the sports calendar, but prepare to have your boredom vanquished for a brief moment as the “NBA 2K24 Summer League” takes center stage in Las Vegas beginning on Friday, July 7.

All 30 teams will participate in the event. Each squad will play a minimum of four games. After each team plays four games, the Top 4 teams will be decided by best record and a variety of tiebreakers – and then those four teams will compete in a single-elimination playoff.

Sure, most of the league’s biggest stars aren’t participating in this event – but for all the diehard NBA fans out there, we’ve got a total of 76 basketball games on-tap over the next 11 days, capped off by a championship game on Monday, July 17.

So without further ado, let’s dive into the betting odds for this year’s NBA Summer League. Odds provided by FanDuel.

2023 NBA Sumer League Championship Odds

• Oklahoma City Thunder (+700)
• Detroit Pistons (+800)
• Portland Trail Blazers (+850)
• Indiana Pacers (+950)
• San Antonio Spurs (+1300)
• Houston Rockets (+1500)
• Sacramento Kings (+1500)
• Dallas Mavericks (+1500)
• Utah Jazz (+1500)
• Memphis Grizzlies (+2000)
• Boston Celtics (+2300)
• Charlotte Hornets (+2500)
• Orlando Magic (+2500)
• Milwaukee Bucks (+3000)
• Miami Heat (+3000)
• Brooklyn Nets (+3500)
• Minnesota Timberwolves (+3500)
• Los Angeles Lakers (+4000)
• Chicago Bulls (+4500)
• Philadelphia 76ers (+4500)
• Cleveland Cavaliers (+4500)

In many ways, the current iteration of this Thunder’ team was built to win the Summer League. Oklahoma City enters as the stand-alone favorite to win the event at +700, followed by Detroit at +800, and then Portland at +850.

The Thunder have a trio of Top 12 draft picks from the last two years on the roster in Chet Holmgren, Jaylin Williams, and Jalen Williams – plus, a stockpile of young established NBA-level talent that includes Ousmane Dieng and Tre Mann.

Push comes to shove, the Thunder probably have the deepest summer league roster on the board from top-to-bottom – but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re best-positioned to make a run at the summer league crown.

The Pistons are also sending an excellent starting-five, and unlike some of the other teams near the top of the list, Detroit’s roster actually rivals OKC’s combination of young talent and depth.

Detroit's group is headlined by a dynamic duo of second-year players in Jalen Duren and Jaden Ivey, who are joined by a deep supporting cast of five first-round draft picks including Marcus Sasser and Ausar Thompson – plus, a wild card in Buddy Boheim.

Moving down the list, very few summer league teams have a better one-two punch than the Trail Blazers with Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson coming in at the third-best odds on the board – but will that be enough for Portland to actually win this thing?

Aside from Henderson and Sharpe, the Blazers’ summer league roster is incredibly thin with just two first-rounders outside of their main duo in Keon Johnson and Kris Murray – and unless they receive a spark from an unexpected source, it’s tough to imagine Portland outlasting some of the deeper teams in the tournament.

So, let’s try to make a case for some of the mid-range contenders.

San Antonio is a fun option dangling at +1300, for obvious reasons. 

No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama is expected to suit up for the Spurs – who many experts consider to be one of the most promising prospects of all time.

Unfortunately, Wembanyama isn’t going to have much of a supporting cast in this tournament with just two former first-rounders by his side, Blake Wesley and Malaki Braham – but on the off chance that “one of the best prospects of all time” waltzes out to Vegas and absolutely dominates a bunch of exhibition games, the Spurs might be worth a look.

Indiana and Sacramento are also sending “sneaky dangerous” teams to this year’s summer league – with the Pacers currently stationed at +950, and the Kings at +1500.

The Pacers are sending a small unit, just 14 players – but there’s certainly no shortage of talent on their roster with a rock solid trio of Bennedict Mathurin, Andrew Nembhard, and Jarace Walker, accompanied by potential spark plugs in Oscar Tshiebwe and Isaiah Wong.

Sacramento is more of a longshot play, but throughout this tournament, the Kings will often have the top scoring threat on the floor in Keegan Murray – and who knows, maybe they’ll get something out of Souley Boum, Kessler Edwards, or one of their rookie second-rounders along the way.

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Michael Crosson

Michael Crosson began his time at VegasInsider as a freelance NBA writer back in 2019 while he continued to study Psychology and Biology at James Madison University. Following his graduation in 2021, Michael joined the team full-time, and he's been with VI ever since. Michael still writes NBA, NFL, and MLB for VI, as well as gambling industry news. He's also become a crucial part of our editorial production team. More from Michael Crosson