The 2023-2024 National Basketball Association season kicked off in October and one of the many storylines was star player LeBron James being the oldest player in the league. PHOTO BY TIM HART/UNSPLASH
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The 2023-2024 National Basketball Association season kicked off in October and one of the many storylines was star player LeBron James being the oldest player in the league.
Here’s a look at how James and the Los Angeles Lakers helped a bettor win big.
With more states legalizing sports betting, the sector continued to see growth each year with new consumers and more contests to bet on and ways to bet. One increasingly popular betting option was parlays, which combine multiple outcomes and come with higher payouts.
Parlays rose in interest from bettors thanks to their high payouts and sports betting platforms often advertising the betting method and in some cases providing boosted odds. Bettors should be aware that parlays also come with a higher risk with all legs of the bet needing to win for the total bet payout to hit.
One bettor with DraftKings Inc (NASDAQ:DKNG) recently hit an unlikely same game parlay during the NBA’s Tuesday night contest between the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz.
The Nov. 21 contest saw the Lakers win with a score of 131-99 in a game shown on TNT, a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD).
The Lakers were a 7.5 favorite to win the game and one bettor decided to place a same game parlay predicting the Lakers to win the game in convincing fashion and several players to post stats below their projected totals.
According to DraftKings the parlay included the following 19 legs:
Anthony Davis Alt Points: Under 26.5
John Collins Alt Poins: Under 16.5
John Collins Rebounds: Under 8.5
Jordan Clarkson Alt Assists: Under 5.5
Jordan Clarkson Alt Rebounds: Under 5.5
Jordan Clarkson Points: Under 22.5
Keyonte George Alt Assists: Under 8.5
Lauri Markkanen Alt Points: Under 27.5
Lauri Markkanen Rebounds: Under 8.5
LeBron James Alt Points: Under 27.5
LeBron James Alt Rebounds: Under 10.5
Ochai Agbaji Alt Rebounds: Under 5.5
Los Angeles Lakers Team Total Points 1st Half: Over 60.5
Los Angeles Lakers Team Total Points 1st Quarter: Over 30.5
Race to 25 Points 1st Quarter: Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers Alternate Spread: -16.5
Utah Jazz Team Total Points 1st Half: Under 56.5
Utah Jazz Team Total Points 1st Quarter: Under 28.5
Winning Margin 1st Half: Los Angeles Lakers 16+
The bet included mostly unders with the exception of the Lakers points. The Lakers led 62-41 at halftime, helping to cash several legs of the parlay and putting the Lakers on pace to soundly defeat the Jazz.
According to DraftKings, several starters were sent to the bench for both teams given the lopsided score. This included James leaving the game in the third quarter and not playing again. James finished the game with 17 points and seven rebounds.
One leg that was close to missing was Anthony Davis going under 26.5 as the Lakers center had 26 points before being pulled with less than two minutes left in the third quarter and not playing again.
The Jazz’s Markkanen also came close to ruining the bet with eight rebounds midway through the third quarter before being pulled and not playing the entire fourth quarter.
The bettor placed a $166 wager on the 19-leg same game parlay at total odds of +600000.
The odds of the bet cashing were around 0.02%.
For all 19 legs hitting, the bettor received a profit of $996,000.
Produced in association with Benzinga
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