The NBA Betting Injury Factor

The sport most influenced in the sports betting line by injuries is definitely the NBA. Why is that? What makes the NBA different from other sports when it comes to injuries? Why is the betting line affected so much by NBA injuries? Let's take a look at the answers to these questions.

Injuries have always been a part of sports betting, from the NFL to the NBA, but in today's high-tech world, the information about injuries is much more readily available. Back in the 70's, 80's, and even early 90's, injuries in all sports were difficult to discover before a game started, particularly in a sport played on a daily basis like the NBA or Major League Baseball. NFL and college football injuries could be discovered because there was a week that went past before the next game. In today's Internet world, injuries can be found out at a moment's notice. The big difference between the NBA and other sports when it comes to injuries is that there are only five players on the court for each team. That is unlike football where there are 11, baseball where there are 9, and hockey injuries have never been that big a deal. A major star player missing in the NBA is definitely a big deal, where as it would be less of a factor in baseball or football where the word "team" applies a little bit more.

NBA betting has become known as the "injury" sport mainly because of lineups. This all started some years ago when lineups were released in the NBA before the game began. Sharp bettors started to pay attention to the starting lineups looking for star players that may be hurt. Sports information services took this one step further and started calling the NBA teams directly, trying to get starting lineups before they were released by Sportsticker or The Sports Network. This advance information was then relayed to their customers. If a major star player were not going to play based on the starting lineup, most sportsbooks would either take the game off the board or adjust the line accordingly. The problem with lineups is that they are an inexact science. Very often the lineups can be inaccurate and that creates a major problem if the information was bad. Many sports bettors would wager thousands of dollars based upon this lineup information. Most of the time the information was correct, but on occasion it can be faulty. It is those occasions that get a lot of people into trouble. What we have to remember about injuries is that we rarely get the whole picture. If a player that was listed as questionable for the game suddenly appears in the starting lineup he may not be at full strength. The NBA betting line was adjusted accordingly with the star player in the lineup, but that adjustment may have been too much since the player may not be totally healthy. On the reverse side, a team that is suddenly missing their star player may actually play better, trying to make up for the loss of their star.

Injuries in sports betting are a subject that we could probably write a book about. Suffice it to say that NBA injuries are a huge factor when it comes to the NBA betting line. From early information found in team newspapers to lineups that appear an hour before the game, NBA injuries are a factor that every handicapper must account for when betting the game.