Paolo Banchero, who was drafted first overall by the Orlando Magic, is the undisputed runaway favorite for NBA Rookie of the Year. Banchero had +180 NBA ROY odds at DraftKings Sportsbook to open the season and has -1200 odds halfway through January. View NBA Rookie of the Year odds for the top first-year players below.
NBA Rookie of the Year odds
Here are NBA Rookie of the Year odds from top US sportsbooks. Click on the price(s) you like to bet now.
NBA ROY betting
Here are contenders for the NBA ROY along with their odds to win the award.
The Favorite
Paolo Banchero : The top overall pick has blown away the rest of his draft class with averages of 21.1 PPG, 6.6 RPG, and 3.8 APG on 44% FG shooting. Banchero is starting and playing 34 MPG for a Magic squad that has been surprisingly feisty during a rebuilding season, thanks in no small part to the versatility of the Duke product and fellow frontcourt mate Franz Wagner.
The Contenders
Benedict Mathurin : The 6-foot-7 wing from the University of Arizona by way of Montreal started his career shooting lights out from the perimeter, but Mathurin went cold and eventually wound up coming off the bench for the Pacers. Now he’s starting with Tyrese Haliburton (elbow) out for a couple of weeks, although the Pacers are mired in a losing streak and Mathurin’s efficiency remains relatively low.
Jaden Ivey : With Cade Cunningham (shin) out for the season, Ivey has stepped in as the main ball-handler for Detroit along with Kilian Hayes. The Purdue product is averaging 15.1 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 4.3 APG on 41% FG shooting for the Pistons.
Walker Kessler : Utah moved Kessler into the starting lineup and he has responded with excellent play on both ends, shifting his Rookie of the Year odds from +40000 to +10000 after he put up a 20-20 game against Minnesota and recorded 20 blocks in a six-game span.
Jalen Williams : The 12th overall pick out of Santa Clara has scored in double figures in 13 of his last 15 appearances and is serving as a nice complementary piece on the wing next to Josh Giddey and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Keegan Murray : The Summer League star has been getting steady minutes for a surging Kings team, but Murray only has a 13.6% usage rate over 12 games since Christmas. However, he’s shooting 47% from deep on 5.3 attempts per game in that span.
How NBA ROY odds are changing
Here we will focus on how NBA Roy odds change throughout the course of the 2022 – 2023 pro basketball season. Initial futures prices are from October 17, 2022 – a day prior to the start of the season.
| Player | NBA Rookie of the Year odds October 17 | NBA Rookie of the Year odds January 20 |
|---|---|---|
| Paolo Banchero | +180 | -900 |
| Keegan Murray | +550 | +21000 |
| Bennedict Mathurin | +550 | +900 |
| Jabari Smith Jr. | +800 | +21000 |
| Jaden Ivey | +850 | +3600 |
| Tari Eason | +2500 | OTB |
| Shaedon Sharpe | +2500 | +49000 |
| Dyson Daniels | +2500 | OTB |
| Ochai Agbaji | +3000 | OTB |
| Johnny Davis | +3000 | OTB |
| Jalen Williams | +3000 | +11000 |
| Jalen Duren | +3500 | +50000 |
| Jeremy Sochan | +4000 | +50000 |
| Blake Wesley | +4000 | OTB |
| Ousmane Dieng | +4500 | OTB |
| Mark Williams | +4500 | OTB |
| Malaki Branham | +4500 | OTB |
| Jaden Hardy | +4500 | OTB |
| Walker Kessler | +5000 | +5500 |
What happened in past years?
This past regular season’s NBA Rookie of the Year race was one of the tightest in league history as Raptors forward Scottie Barnes barely squeaked by Cavs forward Evan Mobley. Barnes garnered 48 first place votes while Mobley had 43 first place votes.
The previous campaign wrapped with LaMelo Ball earning Rookie of the Year honors and NBA Rookie of the Year odds are up at key sportsbooks such as DraftKings and FanDuel.
The NBA ROY award is voted upon by a panel of 100 media members who are not affiliated with any NBA franchises. That panel will vote for a ROY based on their regular season performance.
Each member of the panel casts a vote for first to third-place selections. Each vote counts incrementally towards a player’s total and the player with the highest total wins the award.
There is plenty of precedent where a player misses too many games and members of the panel decide they shouldn’t be eligible.
Two years ago, Ball played in 51 of 72 games, missing 21 with a broken wrist. In 2019, Zion Williamson played 24 games and finished third in ROY voting with only one first-place vote. In 2017, Joel Embiid finished third behind Malcolm Brogdon and Dario Saric after playing in 31 of 82 possible games, but he got 23 first-place votes.
How to bet on NBA Rookie of the Year
Betting on the ROY winner is one of the more popular options for outright bets known as “Futures,” which are usually wagers on a season-long outcome such as the NBA champion, NBA division winner, or individual award winners. It’s also possible to bet over or under on team win totals, i.e. the number of games a team is expected to win during the regular season.
Odds for futures bets are set during the preseason, but can change throughout the season based on news and results.
There are a variety of ways to bet on the NBA. The most popular is wagering on each day’s games during the regular season. Check out NBA odds for today here.
Get $200
Can you bet on Rookie of the Year odds?
Sports betting is currently legal at a regulated sportsbook in the following states.
| State | Online Sports Betting? | Retail Sports Betting? | Best Online Sportsbooks Available |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel |
| Arkansas | Yes | Yes | N/A |
| Colorado | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel |
| Connecticut | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, FanDuel |
| Delaware | No | Yes | N/A |
| Illinois | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, Caesars, FanDuel |
| Indiana | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel |
| Iowa | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars |
| Kansas | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel |
| Louisiana | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel |
| Maryland | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel |
| Michigan | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel |
| Mississippi | No | Yes | N/A |
| Montana | No | Yes | N/A |
| Nevada | Yes | Yes | N/A |
| New Hampshire | Yes | Yes | DraftKings |
| New Jersey | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel |
| New Mexico | No | Yes | N/A |
| New York | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel |
| Ohio | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel |
| Oregon | Yes | Yes | N/A |
| Pennsylvania | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel |
| Rhode Island | Yes | Yes | N/A |
| South Dakota | No | Yes | N/A |
| Tennessee | Yes | No | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel |
| Virginia | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel |
| Washington, D.C. | Yes | Yes | BetMGM, Caesars |
| West Virginia | Yes | Yes | DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel |
| Wisconsin | No | Yes | N/A |
| Wyoming | Yes | No | DraftKings, BetMGM, FanDuel |
Legislation is on the table in a number of states with more states sure to legalize sports betting in the upcoming years.
NBA ROY trends and history
Twenty-one winners were drafted first overall. Sixteen winners have also won the MVP award in their careers; Wilt Chamberlain and Wes Unseld earning both honors the same season. Nineteen of the 42 winners have been elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Three seasons had joint winners — Dave Cowens and Geoff Petrie in 1970-71; Grant Hill and Jason Kidd in 1994-95, and Elton Brand and Steve Francis in 1999-2000.
As mentioned above, stats matter most. So when choosing a player to wager on, minutes played if often a good place to start … the thought being that the more minutes a player plays, the more he can stuff that stat sheet.