- The Dallas Mavericks lost more money for bettors than any other NBA team.
- A total of seven NBA teams lost double digit units.
- Only nine NBA teams turned a profit during the 2022-2023 seasons.
I was listening to NHL Radio on SiriusXM earlier today and the conversation was on the status of several injured players. Somehow, the subject turned to the calf strain suffered by Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. Bengals coach Zac Taylor has indicated that Burrow will miss ‘several weeks’ due to the injury he suffered in Thursday’s practice. That led one of the hosts to quip: “What’s the recovery time for a calf injury in the NBA? A year and a half?” The co-host followed up with: “A year and a half, followed by two years of sitting out back to back games.”
Ah, the NBA. The league of injuries that are minor in other sports causing long term absences. The league of ‘load management’ and games that are clearly de facto nights off for teams. And those are the good teams. The league’s bottom feeders will throw in the towel long before the All Star Break. When the stakes are high, NBA basketball is an electrifying spectator sport. When they’re not, it can be downright pitiful.
At any rate, the concept of exerting a decent effort every night is lost on pro basketball players. Last week, we reviewed the most profitable NBA teams during the 2022-2023 season. Now we’ll consider the nadir of pro basketball betting–the teams that lost the most money for their ‘financial backers’ on a unit basis.
DALLAS MAVERICKS -22.8 UNITS
The Mavs are a tough team to figure. Luka Doncic has blossomed into one of the best players on the planet and is capable of a dropping a triple double on any given night. Dallas appeared to be heading in the right direction before last season with three consecutive above .500 finishes and playoff appearances in the Doncic era. The jury is still out on Jason Kidd as a head coach. Dallas finished the 2021-2022 season with a 52-30 record and reached the Western Conference Finals. Last year, however, they suffered an extreme reversal of fortune going 38-44 SU and 30-48-4 ATS. Clearly, the betting public expected great things out of the Mavs and it didn’t work out that way. The presence of Doncic attracted even more public money.
The 2022-2023 Mavs were the epitome of statistical mediocrity. They were #16 in scoring offense, #16 in scoring defense and finished with a points for/points against differential of 0. The most significant decline was on the defensive side of the ball. In 2021-2022, Dallas had the second best scoring defense in the league and finished just 2 tenths of a point behind first place Boston. They won with defense that year and scoring took a back seat (#24 in scoring offense). That’s how they managed to finish -22.8 units in the hole with a brutal 38.5% winning percentage against the number.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS -20.9 UNITS
It wasn’t a good year for Texas, at least at the NBA betting window. It would be bad enough that the Spurs and Mavs combined to lose -43.7 units but it gets even worse. The Houston Rockets had the fourth worst ATS performance in the NBA losing 18.6 units. A Lone Star State bettor that bet the Texas teams every night would have lost an absurd -62.3 units.
San Antonio was a bad team in 2021-2022 but turned in a credible effort on most nights. They finished 34-49 SU but managed to turn a small profit going 43-28-2 ATS (+1.2 units). In the 2022-2023 Spurs looked to be interested in competing only for the first overall pick in the draft. The Spurs were a horrific 22-60 SU and 33-49 ATS. That’s a 40.2% mark against the number. The good news for San Antonio is that they did ‘win’ the first overall pick and selected Victor Wembanyama.
MIAMI HEAT -18.9 UNITS
2022-2023 was a strange year for the Miami Heat. They lost the naming sponsor for their arena due to the meltdown of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. The venue was temporarily renamed as the ‘Miami-Dade Arena’ before Miami based software company Kaseya stepped in. The regular season in the newly renamed Kaseya Center was definitely a step backwards. In 2021-2022, Miami finished 53-29 and clinched the best record in the Eastern Conference. They also did well at the betting window with a 56-42-2 ATS record (including playoffs) good for a 57.1 winning percentage against the number and +9.8 units of profit. In 2022-2023, they barely made the playoffs despite winning their division. That had more to do with the rest of the teams in the wretched Southeast Division than anything Miami did. The Heat did finish with a winning record and that was enough. At 44-38 SU/46-59-2 ATS, it was a rough season for their financial backers after the strong showing of the previous year.
Miami did a 180 during the playoffs. They shocked the top seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round, winning in five games. It was only the sixth time in league history that a #8 seed would knock off a #1 seed. This was after they had to go through the ‘play-in tournament’ just to make the playoffs. Miami also became the first ‘play-in’ team to win a playoff series. They eliminated the New York Knicks in six games and looked to be in cruise control against the Boston Celtics as they went up 3-0. That was before the Celtics won three straight games to even the series. Miami ripped Boston 103-84 in Game 7 to avoid becoming the first NBA team to lose a playoff series after going up 3-0. They hit a buzzsaw in the NBA Finals, losing to the Denver Nuggets.
