<p>The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the world’s premier domestic basketball competition.</p> <p>Basketball is one of the fastest growing and these days most popular spectator sports Down Under, thanks mainly to the NBA.</p> <p>With popularity amongst spectators, comes popularity amongst punters and the NBA is one of the most popular competitions with Sportsbet patrons.</p> <p>Every punter worth their salt understands the ins and outs of how to bet on the NBA, so for all you newbies out there, we’ve created this in-depth How to Bet on the NBA guide as part of our Punter IQ series.</p> <p>This guide is a must read for new punters looking to take it to the rim and jump into the world of NBA match betting and all the different Sportsbet markets that come with it.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>How to Bet on NBA Games Throughout the Year</h2> <h2>&nbsp;</h2> <p>A standard NBA season can be split into three distinct periods. Before you can start betting on the NBA, it is important to understand the difference between these three specific periods of the season.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>NBA Regular Season Betting</h3> <p>The NBA is split into two conferences (East and West) and consists of 30 teams.</p> <p>The NBA regular season begins in the last week of October every year and is an absolute marathon.</p> <p>All 30 teams each play 82 games across the regular season, the top eight teams from each conference who record the most points across these 82 games qualify for the playoffs.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>NBA All-Star Weekend Betting</h3> <p>Every season in February, the regular season pauses for the NBA All-Star weekend.</p> <p>This weekend consists of a variety of events such as the Slam Dunk Contest and the Three-Point Contest and culminates in the All-Star Game.</p> <p>All the unique one-off events that come with the All-Star weekend naturally facilitate a whole host of one-off markets for Sportsbet punters.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>NBA Playoffs&nbsp;Betting</h3> <p>After the regular season and the All-Star weekend have come and gone, the real fun begins.&nbsp;When learning how to bet on NBA games, the playoffs are one of Sportsbet’s most popular set of markets.</p> <p>Starting in April, the top eight teams in each conference who have collected the most points throughout the regular season qualify for the playoffs and earn the right to do battle for the NBA Championship.</p> <p>Each team plays an opponent in a best-of-seven series until only two teams remain (one from each conference). Those two then face off in one final seven game series known as the NBA Finals, with the winner taking home the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>What Can You Bet on in the NBA?</h2> <h2>&nbsp;</h2> <h3>NBA Match Betting</h3> <p>Also known as the Head-to-Head (H2H) market. This is where punters can bet on who they think will win the match.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>NBA Handicap Betting</h3> <p>Arguably the most popular bet type in the NBA, Handicap Betting or Line Betting as it is also known, is where the market is handicapped to create an equal betting outcome for both sides.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>NBA Game Total Points</h3> <p>Sometimes referred to as Over/Under, Total Points is pretty self-explanatory. Punters can simply bet whether the designated total points for a specific game will be reached or not by the two teams competing.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Big Win Little Win</h3> <p>Big Win Little Win is a winning margin market. This is where you can pick the margin a team will win by if you so wish. For example: 1-10, 11+ etc.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>NBA Futures Markets</h3> <p>There are a whole host of future NBA markets available on the Sportsbet app and website.</p> <p>The usual suspects are the most popular such as the markets for the overall NBA Championship winner, as well as the overall winner of both conferences.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>NBA Game's First Basket Market</h3> <p>As straightforward as it gets – wager on who is draining that first bucket.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>NBA Player Hub</h3> <p>This is where you go to easily place wagers on individual players in a specific match.</p> <p>The Player Hub is the easiest place to access all the different markets available for a specific player.&nbsp;</p> <p>Come here to bet on player specific points, assists, rebounds, combinations, if they’ll record a triple double, be the game’s top scorer, score the game’s first basket and much more.</p> <p>It is also the place to go and construct a Same Game Multi (SGM) revolving around your favourite baller.</p> <p>For example, you can select someone like Australia's very own Josh Giddey from the Player Hub and pick him to: score 20+ points, record 8+ rebounds and 6+ assists in a SGM.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>NBA Player Awards</h3> <p>A subsection of the Futures market, the NBA Player Awards is where you can bet on who you think will take home the individual end of season awards.</p> <p>These range from MVP and Rookie of the Year to Most Improved and even Sixth Man of the Year.</p> <h2>&nbsp;</h2> <h2>How To Bet On NBA Games</h2> <h2>&nbsp;</h2> <p><strong>Step 1:</strong> Choose between the regular season, the playoffs or the All-Star weekend depending on the time of year.</p> <p><strong>Step 2:</strong> Select your match and browse the markets available for it.</p> <p><strong>Step 3:</strong> Select the market(s) you wish to wager on.</p> <p><strong>Step 4:</strong> Choose your stake and confirm your bet.</p>