Kambi’s SVP Trading, Simon Noy, talks to SBC about the launch of Odds Feed+ and the enhanced flexibility it offers operators seeking to enhance their existing sportsbook
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Ahead of the 2023-24 season tip-off, Kambi’s Head of NBA and Live Basketball, Stefanos Moysidis, discusses recent improvements to Kambi’s NBA product and potential key betting trends
Q: How big is the NBA from a betting perspective?
A: The NBA is the highest-profile basketball league around the world and one of the highest-profile leagues in all of sports in general, making it a substantial season for our partners around the globe. Every game throughout the season offers an extensive pre-match and live betting offering. The volume of games that take place over the course of the year makes it one of the largest turnover seasons each year.
Q: Who are some of the favourites this year as we prepare for season tip-off? Who are some of the teams to look out for?
A: The defending champion Denver Nuggets, led by two-time MVP Nikola Jokic, steamrolled through the 2023 Playoffs and are justifiably one of the top favourites this season.
The Boston Celtics, who almost made an incredible comeback in last season’s Eastern Conference Finals, eventually lost at home to Miami in seven games. The Bucks are also led by a two-time NBA MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and are joint favourites to win the East with the Celtics. Milwaukee traded for Damian Lillard while Jrue Holiday moved to Boston, potentially widening the gap between these two teams and everyone else in the East. The Phoenix Suns brought in Bradley Beal this offseason to join Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, which has made them one of the favourites as well.
Elsewhere, there are several teams who you can never count out including the Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler, coming off their NBA Finals run, as well as Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors and of course LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
All-in-all, it will be a competitive year as there are four teams with outright champion odds that are less than 10-1.
Q: Which players should our partners be keeping an eye on and what are some of the most popular player props?
A: The NBA’s most exciting rookie since LeBron James entered the league is Victor Wembanyama, aka Wemby – he is what people in and around the league call a ‘unicorn’ who can do everything on the basketball court. He’s been an obvious choice to win the Rookie of the Year award. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander turned into one of the most exciting players of last season and is coming fresh off a bronze medal run with the Canada national team at the FIBA World Cup, so he will be a popular player to keep an eye on.
There are several other players to keep an eye on including some of the usual suspects: Luka, Harden, Embiid; Mikal Bridges on his first year as the go-to-guy on a team, Anthony Edwards who a lot of people think is the next big thing, and finally the number two and three draft picks from this year Brandon Miller and Scoot Henderson.
As for player props, the top five that we saw last year were player points, assists, rebounds, 3-pointers, and player combined points, rebounds, and assists.
Q: What can our partners expect from our NBA product in 23/24?
A: All the improvements that our partners saw for last year’s playoffs will be part of our regular season product this time around as well. This regular season, we’re bringing back all the player props and in-event combinations that were only available for the Playoffs last year.
On the live offering side, we are working on some big improvements with regard to live player props that will be available to bettors this season. Last year, we offered live player props for some players in selected games. This season, you’ll see an extended live player prop offering for more players in all games throughout the course of the year. This will not be available from the start of the season, but we expect it to be ready soon after.
