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Andre SnellingsESPN
The 2022-23 season is fast approaching and our betting experts have you covered. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll look at getting close to some of the best teams in the league and offering some of the best future bets before kick-off.
Senior NBA Writer Andre Snellings discusses the Brooklyn Nets and their star players as betting options this season.
Here’s the best case, worst case and betting analysis for this year’s Nets team.
NBA betting preview schedule
Thursday: The case of Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors
This day: The case of the Brooklyn Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks
Monday: The case of the Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers
Tuesday: Who to bet on for MVP
Wednesday: Total winnings from bets and prizes
October the 17th: Social networks and bets
October 18: NBA title odds and favorites
Best case: The Nets have been among the betting favorites in each of the two seasons leading up to this one, and this season they still have the fifth-lowest odds of winning the title at +800. Their best case scenario is that they actually win the chip. Kevin Durant is a former MVP, and both Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons have been All-NBA players in their careers. In the 2020-21 season, the last time Simmons and Irving played most of the season for their respective teams, Simmons helped anchor the 76ers to the No. 2 defensive rating in the NBA while Irving and Durant led the Nets to the No. 1 offensive rating. If the team fits in and stays healthy, it has the potential to repeat as the best offense with a much more competitive defense than it did during the Durant/Irving era.
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Worst of cases: Unfortunately, this is easy to imagine. After missing his entire first season with the Nets while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon, Kevin Durant missed 64 games of the Nets’ 154 games over the next two seasons. During that same three-season span, Irving missed 133 of the Nets’ 226 games for various reasons, including missing 53 games last season alone due to off-the-court decisions. And Simmons missed all 82 games last season, first due to mental health issues and a sour relationship with the 76ers, then due to a back injury with the Nets. The worst-case scenario, for the Nets, is that their star players continue to lose large chunks of time and the team, which was in play-in play last season, misses the postseason altogether.
The odds: Kevin Durant over 27.5 PPG, Kyrie Irving over 26.5 PPG per season
Bet spin: Due to the high degree of uncertainty in team results, the best bets for the Nets revolve around individual performances per game. Kevin Durant’s over/under scoring average is set at 27.5 PPG (-115), while Kyrie Irving’s is set at 26.5 PPG (+100 over, -130 under). Durant averaged 29.9 PPG last season and has averaged 28.7 PPG during his entire tenure with the Nets. Similarly, Irving averaged 27.1 PPG for the Nets and 27.4 PPG last season. Both achieved those averages while playing plenty of minutes alongside another high-volume/high-use scorer in James Harden. This season, with Simmons as the floor general who doesn’t need many shots, both Durant and Irving have a good chance to build on their previous averages and get past those lines.