How To Bet NBA On DraftKings (Beginner's Guide)
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In Summary
DraftKings makes it easy to fire your first NBA bet, which is exactly why a new bettor can lose money fast without ever knowing why. This guide covers the part that matters: the three core basketball markets (spread, moneyline, and total), how to read the prices attached to them, how to place a bet and stack a parlay, where props, live betting, and NBA futures fit, and which promos carry real value. Then the one habit that separates a beginner who slowly builds from one who slowly bleeds: shopping the number. DraftKings shows you its price on a game. It rarely tells you whether a better one is sitting at another book, and closing that gap is what OddsShopper does for you.
Watch The Video
Prefer to watch the walkthrough first? Here is the full breakdown on the OddsShopper YouTube channel. Watch on YouTube.
Getting Set Up And Finding Your Way Around
Signing up and depositing takes a couple of minutes, and like every book, DraftKings runs a welcome offer that hands new accounts bonus bets after a first qualifying wager. Claim it. Whenever you open an account at a new sportsbook, taking the sign-up bonus is free value you should never leave on the table.
Once you are in, learn the layout before you bet a dime. Four tabs do almost all the work:
- Home is your hub for sports, promos, and everything else.
- In-Game is where you bet games that are already underway, live, from the first quarter to the fourth.
- My Bets is where every wager you have placed lives, open and settled.
- Rewards is the one most beginners ignore, and it is worth your attention. DraftKings runs one of the stronger loyalty programs in the space. You earn Crowns automatically on every wager, then redeem them once they pile up for site credit and other rewards in the DraftKings store.
The Three Core NBA Markets: Spread, Moneyline, And Total
Tap into an NBA game and you will see a wall of numbers. Most of them come down to three markets. Here is what each one means in plain terms.
| Market | What you are betting | How it works on an NBA game |
|---|---|---|
| Point Spread | A team to cover a margin | The favorite must win by more than the spread; the underdog can lose by less than it or win outright. |
| Moneyline | A team to win, straight up | Just pick the winner. The price sets the payout. |
| Total | The combined points, over or under | Bet whether both teams' points land over or under a posted number. |
The point spread exists because most matchups are not evenly matched, so the book sets a margin to level them out and let you bet either side without picking the outright winner. Say the 76ers are -5 against the Pacers at +5. Lay the Sixers at -5 and they have to win by 6 or more to cover. It does not matter whether they win by 6 or by 60; the bet pays the same. Take the Pacers at +5 and they cover by losing by 4 or fewer, or winning the game outright. Your payout is the same regardless of the exact margin.
One wrinkle to know early: the push. When the Sixers win by exactly 5 on a -5 spread, neither side wins, the bet is voided, and your stake is returned to your account.
The push rule: if the margin lands exactly on the spread, no one wins. The bet is void and your stake comes back. The half-point in the next market exists to prevent this.
The total is the most straightforward of the three. You are simply betting the combined score to go over or under a posted number. With a Sixers-Pacers total of 240.5, the over needs 241 points or more and the under wins on 240 or fewer. That half-point is called the hook, and it matters: a total ending in .5 cannot push, so every bet is a clean win or loss. It does not matter how the points get there. A 200-41 final is still 241 points to an over bettor.
The moneyline is just the winner, but the price is where beginners trip. Minus numbers are the favorite, the more likely result; plus numbers are the underdog, the less likely one.
A Worked Example: Reading The Sixers-Pacers Price
Numbers are easier with a real one in front of you. Say the Sixers are -198 on the moneyline and the Pacers are +164.
- Sixers -198. The minus sign marks the favorite. The number is what you stake to win $100, so a -198 line means betting $198 to win $100. Push the favorite to -400 and you would need $400 to win $100; the more negative the number, the more you risk for the same return.
- Pacers +164. The plus sign marks the underdog. The number is what a $100 stake wins you, so $100 returns $164 in profit if they pull the upset.
That is the entire language of American odds. You never have to bet exactly $100; the price just expresses the rate. Those prices also imply a win probability: a -198 favorite is priced at roughly a 66% chance to win, and a +164 underdog at about 38%. If turning odds into probabilities still feels fuzzy, our how to read betting odds guide walks through the math step by step.
This raises a fair beginner question: why bet the Sixers -5 instead of just taking them on the moneyline? Because a heavy moneyline favorite forces you to risk a lot to win a little, while the spread offers a more even price in exchange for the team needing to win by a margin. Read the price, not just the side you like.
Beyond The Game Lines: Alt Lines, Props, And Futures
Tap the game itself and DraftKings opens a much larger menu. A few areas worth knowing:
- Game Lines And Alternate Numbers. You can move the spread or the total off the standard line. Want the Sixers to win by 8 instead of 5, or expect a much higher-scoring game? Adjust it and the payout grows, since a less likely outcome pays more, often flipping minus money to plus money. My advice as a beginner: leave the alternate lines alone for now. Get comfortable with the standard spread, total, and moneyline first, then explore once you know what a good price looks like.
- Player Props. This is where the NBA app gets deep: standard points, alternate points, three-pointers, and combos like points-rebounds-assists or rebounds plus assists. Props behave like small totals, but the odds swing hard from bet to bet, so the price discipline matters even more here than on the game lines.
- Futures And Awards. Scroll to the far right of a game's bet menu and you will find season-long markets: MVP, the Finals winner, and the in-season tournament. These tie up your stake for weeks or months, so treat them as a small slice of your action.
Parlays, Teasers, And Same-Game Parlays
A parlay combines two or more bets into one wager for a bigger payout. Each pick inside it is a leg, and every leg has to hit for the parlay to pay. Miss one leg of a five-leg parlay and the whole thing loses, which is why the bigger payout comes with much bigger risk. Teasers work similarly while letting you shift the spread or total in your favor across legs in exchange for a lower payout. (For the structured way to combine parlays so a single miss does not sink everything, see our how to bet round robins guide.)
A same-game parlay (SGP) combines multiple bets from one game, say a team's moneyline with a star's points prop, into a single wager at longer odds. Be honest with yourself about these: sportsbooks promote SGPs hard because the correlation between legs is baked into the price in their favor, and the extra hold adds up. They can be fun, but treat them as entertainment money, not the core of your slip. Our same-game parlay strategy guide covers when one is actually worth it.
Live (In-Game) NBA Betting
The In-Game tab lets you bet a game already in progress, and basketball suits it well. Prices update constantly as the score, pace, and foul trouble shift. Two natural spots: you sense a comeback brewing and grab the live underdog at a longer price than it opened, or a team is shooting out of its mind early and you doubt it lasts, so you take the live under. The rule does not change in-game: a live price is only good if it beats the true odds of what is left to happen. Our live betting strategy guide goes deeper on timing those spots.
DraftKings Promos, Boosts, And Rewards
DraftKings hands out real value, and some of it is worth claiming:
- Profit Boosts And Odds Boosts. A profit boost raises how much you win on a specific bet; an odds boost sweetens the price on a game, player, or sport. Both add value. But a boost does not automatically make a bet good, and it does not require the bet to already be good. The only question that matters is whether the boosted price beats the true odds. A big boost can flip a marginal play into a real one, and a small boost will not rescue a bad number. Run the math first. Our odds boosts strategy guide shows how to tell the difference.
- Crowns And Rewards. You earn Crowns automatically on every wager, then redeem them for site credit and other rewards in the store. They accrue as you play, so claim them.
Worth remembering: a promo or boost is added value, not a guarantee. Bonus bets do their best work on longer-priced or +EV plays where the value compounds, not burned on a heavy favorite.
Shop The Number Before You Bet
Here is the habit that separates a beginner who slowly builds from one who slowly bleeds. Every NBA bet on DraftKings has a true price, the fair number a sharp market would set. DraftKings sets its own line around that, and so does every other book. When DraftKings is offering a worse price than the rest of the market, you are handing back money on a bet you would make anyway.
Picture that Pacers moneyline at +164 on DraftKings while another regulated book lists the identical bet at +178. Same wager, better payout: $100 returns $178 instead of $164. Take the worse one and you have donated the difference for nothing. Across a full NBA season, with a slate of games almost every night, that quietly compounds into real money left on the table.
This is exactly what OddsShopper does for you. Its line shopping feed scans 100-plus regulated sportsbooks and, for any NBA bet, shows which book has the best number and how that price stacks up against the true, market-implied odds. The Portfolio EV view confirms a bet is +EV, priced in your favor versus the fair number, before you ever tap confirm, and the Odds Boost Evaluator tells you whether a DraftKings boost actually clears +EV or just looks like it does. Pull up the NBA live odds screen and you can see the spread, moneyline, and total for every game lined up book by book.
New to OddsShopper? It scans 100-plus sportsbooks in seconds and flags the NBA bets priced in your favor, so you can confirm DraftKings is giving you a fair number before you bet (and find a better one when it is not). Try it free for 7 days, and code NBABETEDGE20 takes 20% off OS Pro or OS Core if you subscribe.
The One Thing To Remember
DraftKings is easy to bet NBA on and easy to lose on, and the gap between the two is mostly about which prices you take. Read the spread and the total, not just the moneyline. Mind the price on every prop. Claim the promos and Crowns that carry real value, treat pre-made boosts and SGPs with a clear head, and size your bets to your bankroll rather than your confidence (start with our bankroll management guide if that part is new). Above all, shop every number against the market so you are betting +EV instead of blind. For the full app walkthrough across every sport, see our how to bet on DraftKings guide. It is 21+ and legal only where regulated, so bet responsibly.
Want to bet the NBA smarter on DraftKings without doing the math by hand? OddsShopper scans 100-plus sportsbooks and shows you the best number on any basketball bet, plus whether it is actually priced in your favor. Try it free for 7 days, then code NBABETEDGE20 is 20% off OS Pro or OS Core, less than a coffee a day to stop leaving the better number on the table.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I bet NBA on DraftKings as a beginner? Open the app, tap an NBA game, and read the three core markets: the point spread (the favorite must win by more than the number, the underdog covers by losing by less or winning), the moneyline (just pick the winner, the price sets the payout), and the total (over or under the combined points). Add a side to your bet slip, enter your stake, check the price, and place it. Mind the odds on every bet and shop the number before you confirm.
What does the point spread mean in NBA betting? The spread is a margin the book sets to even out a mismatch. If a team is -5, they have to win by 6 or more to cover; their opponent at +5 covers by losing by 4 or fewer or winning outright. If the favorite wins by exactly 5, it is a push and your stake is returned. You win the same amount no matter how big the covered margin is.
How do I read DraftKings NBA odds? A minus number is what you stake to win $100 (a -198 favorite means $198 to win $100). A plus number is what a $100 stake wins you (a +164 underdog means $100 wins $164). Totals and spreads use the same scale, while props swing more, so always check the price, not just the side.
What is the hook in a total? The hook is the half-point at the end of a number, like a total of 240.5. Because the combined score can never land on a half-point, a total with a hook cannot push. The over needs 241 or more and the under wins on 240 or fewer, with no possibility of a tie.
Are DraftKings odds boosts worth it for the NBA? Sometimes. A boost adds value, but it does not automatically make a bet good, and the bet does not have to be good already. What matters is whether the boosted price beats the true odds. A large boost can turn a marginal bet into a play, while a small one will not save a bad number. Run any boost through an odds boost evaluator before you take it.
*DraftKings is easy to bet the NBA on and easy to lose on. The gap is mostly which prices you take. OddsShopper scans 100-plus regulated sportsbooks, surfaces the best number on any basketball bet, and tells you whether it is actually +EV against the fair odds, plus an Odds Boost Evaluator so pre-made boosts cannot fool you. Try it free for 7 days; code NBABETEDGE20 is 20% off OS Pro or OS Core after that.
