The brand new 2021-22 NBL season is just around the corner with the first round of action kicking off on Friday, 3rd of December. As always, there’s been plenty of roster movement in the off-season which will see some teams become contenders and others become pretenders. Here, we bring you our best futures bets for the upcoming season and wish you the best of luck if following our betting tips in 2021-22!
NBL 2021-22 Futures Betting Tips
NBL Championship
It’s a wide-open market for the NBL Championship this season with the Sydney Kings, Illawarra Hawks, South East Melbourne Phoenix and Perth Wildcats all priced between $4-5, while the defending champions in Melbourne United are also in the market at $7. New franchise the Tasmania Jack Jumpers are the rank outsiders to win the title in their first campaign according to the bookies, as they’re priced at $101.
While it’s extremely hard to pick the winner before the season begins in the NBL, there are a couple of teams that we believe will be in the mix when the whips are cracking in April. First on our list is the Perth Wildcats who just have an unbelievable record when it comes to making the playoffs and winning championships. The Wildcats missed the playoffs since 1987 and have won five of the last eight grand finals. They have a tremendous roster once again and are always a good bet at $5.
The other team that we really fancy this season is the big improvers from last season in the Illawarra Hawks. After a couple of seasons finishing in the bottom two, the Hawks almost made it to the Grand Final last season and have added some exciting pieces to their roster this off-season. They will be looking for natural improvement from their young guns in Justinian Jessup and Sam Froling to help superstar Tyler Harvey lead this team to glory. They’re our second pick at a juicy $6.50 quote.
Also Backing: Illawarra Hawks $6.50 (SB)
Most Valuable Player
The MVP race should be an exciting one this year with so many top tier basketball players plying their trade in the NBL. Winner of three of the last four NBL MVPs in Bryce Cotton is the favourite at most bookies at around $6, but the Wildcats may take a few weeks to gel with a new coach at the helm and a relatively looking new roster, which could hurt his chances.
Our top pick for the MVP is on the second line of betting at $8.50 and is Hawks superstar Tyler Harvey. The dynamic guard has been a certified bucket-getter in whatever league he’s played in and averaged 20.4 points in his first season in the league last campaign, earning ALL-NBL First Team honours as a result. We mentioned above that we fancy the Hawks to be one of the contenders this season and potentially claim the minor championship, which will give Harvey every chance of claiming his first MVP trophy.
If you’re hunting some bigger odds in this market, then we see Breakers forward Finn Delany as the best chance at odds of $15 or better. We expect the Breakers to be an improved outfit this campaign and Delany will be their star man on the back of his breakout season in 2020-21 where he earned All-NBL Second Team selection. He should improve once again and could very well find himself in the mix for the league’s highest individual honour at season’s end at a big price.
Value: Finn Delaney $23 (Lad)
To Make Top Four
With some much roster turnover for all clubs in the off-season, you can expect the standings will be shaken up a bit from last campaign. On top of that, there are now 10 teams in the competition which obviously makes it just that much tougher to finish in the top four and secure a playoffs spot. Regardless, there’s still plenty of value in the To Make Top Four market for us to attack.
The one club that we believe is decent overs in the market to make the playoffs is the New Zealand Breakers. They suffered the most of any team due to Covid because they were effectively playing road games every single night. We mentioned above that we expect Finn Delany to have a huge year, but we also expect William McDowell-White to be one of the most improved, and new import Peyton Siva to be one of the top guards in the league. So, with all things considered, getting the Breakers at better than 3-1 odds to make the playoffs looks like really nice value.
New Zealand Breakers
$3.25
To Miss Top Four
Not often would be suggest that getting around even money for the defending champions to miss the playoffs the following season is good value, but that’s exactly the case for us with Melbourne United. They still have some good NBL players on their roster with the likes of Chris Goulding and Jo Lual-Acuil, as well as new recruits Matthew Dellavedova and Caleb Agada, but they lost their two most important players in Mitch McCarron (Adelaide 36ers) and Jock Landale (San Antonio Spurs). Those losses will be incredibly hard to cover, particularly on the defensive end, which was where the team excelled last season. United should still be a competitive team that can win around half of their games, but unfortunately, we can’t see them making the top four with how their team is currently constructed.
