Sportsbooks set betting lines for Thursday night’s NBA Draft

The New Orleans Pelicans finished last season with a 33-49 straight up and 38-43-1 against the spread record, better than six other teams in the NBA. But after winning the NBA Draft Lottery, the Pelicans hold the first overall pick heading into Thursday night’s draft.

Zion Williamson is a -10000 favorite to be selected first overall in Brooklyn on the 2019 NBA Draft odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Bettors that want to take a stab on Williamson not being selected first overall can do so with a wager at +1400, but this selection is a virtual lock. The Pelicans traded Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers for Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and three first round picks (including this year’s fourth overall pick) to compliment Williamson with a young core.

While Williamson is expected to go No. 1 overall and RJ Barrett is expected to go no later than No. 3 overall, things are more difficult to predict for the third member of Duke’s 2019 superstar trio, Cam Reddish.

Reddish is a -240 favorite on those NBA odds to be selected with a pick OVER 7.5 and is going off at +165 to land in the top seven. Bettors who believe Reddish will be drafted in the top five can wager on the three Duke stars to all be drafted in the top five at +400 (with the “No” on this prop at -700); those who believe he will fall outside of the top 10 can wager on the three Duke stars not to be drafted in the top 10 at +550 (with the “Yes” on this one paying -1000).

The 2019 champion Virginia Cavaliers are projected to have two or three players drafted in the first round on Thursday. The line is set at 2.5 Virginia players with the UNDER favored at -200 against the OVER at +150. De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome are universally expected to be first round draft picks; this wager will hinge on whether or not Kyle Guy, the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, is also drafted in the first round.

Other interesting odds on the NBA Draft betting lines include how many freshman will be taken in the first round (OVER 12.5 -120, UNDER 12.5 -120), how many trades will happen on draft day (OVER 12.5 -110, UNDER 12.5 -110) and how many international players will be taken in the first round (OVER 2.5 -155, UNDER 2.5 +115).

For more odds information, betting picks and a breakdown of this week’s top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast. Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.