NBA Picks

Point Spread
Aug 4, 2021
Consensus
Best Spread

How do we Make our NBA Picks?

The suggestions on our NBA Picks page are based on the market consensus (the most common pick) from free picks providers across the sports betting industry such as CBS Sports, Sports Betting Dime, Pickswise and more.

We pair the market consensus pick with the best available line from an online sportsbook to give you a best bet for the point spread, total and moneyline for every game on the board.

Let’s go through an example:

The Brooklyn Nets are playing the Los Angeles Lakers.

Four out of five sources Betting News monitors are picking the Lakers to cover the spread and the best price available for that pick is +2.5 (-110) at Sportsbook A.

This example also applies for moneyline and totals markets.

Betting News Best Bets on our NBA Picks page are subject to change based on how we calculate market consensus. Best Bets are also not financial advice. Please gamble responsibly.

How is the Market Consensus Calculated?

Betting News uses predicted scores advertised by free picks providers to determine the market consensus.

Let’s expand on the above example:

  • Source 1 is predicting the Lakers beat the Nets 115-114
  • Source 2 is predicting the Lakers beat the Nets 116-110
  • Source 3 is predicting the Nets beat the Lakers 120-118
  • Source 4 is predicting the Nets beat the Lakers 124-122
  • Source 5 is predicting the Nets win in a blowout

The consensus lines for that game are:

  • Point Spread: Lakers +2.5/Nets -2.5
  • Total: OVER 230.5/UNDER 230.5
  • Moneyline: Lakers +110/Nets -130

Based on those predictions and consensus lines, we would list Lakers +2.5 (-110) at Sportsbook A (they’re offering thebest price at the consensus line) as the best bet as four out of five sources have a predicted score that would see LA cover the +2.5 point spread.

That said, if the consensus point spread were to move to Lakers +1.5/Nets -1.5 at participating sportsbooks our suggested pick would change to Nets -1.5 (-105) at Sportsbook B as three out of five sources would then be predicting that the Nets would cover the spread and Sportsbook B is offering the best price on that pick.

NBA Picks FAQs

How do NBA consensus picks work?
We monitor top NBA betting information providers and aggregate the picks and predictions they’ve made on specific games. Whichever pick is most heavily promoted by the sources we’re monitoring will be the consensus pick for that market.
What's the difference between NBA consensus picks, computer picks and expert picks?
The consensus NBA picks we present are gathered using computer and expert-generated picks from industry-leading sources.