By The NBA Summer League is generally an obscure event during a slow period on the sports calendar.
That obscurity gave way to a Twitter storm on Tuesday night, though, as No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren showed out in his summer league debut. He scored 23 points on 7 of 9 shooting, including a 4 of 6 effort from 3-point range.
Holmgren added seven rebounds, four assists and a summer league record six blocks. That was all sportsbooks needed to see to start shifting his odds for the NBA Rookie of the Year award.
He was a consensus top-three favorite in the market, but he is now the +300 ‘chalk’ to win the award at BetOnline. His odds were also shortened at FanDuel, who moved him from +500 to +340 following his outstanding debut.
Top overall draft pick Paolo Banchero, who was originally the +360 favorite, has been bumped down to +450 at BetOnline. Jabari Smith (+600), Jaden Ivey (+650) and Keegan Murray (+800) are the only other rookies priced inside of 14-1. Banchero is expected to make his summer league debut with the Magic on Thursday against Smith and the Rockets.
Oklahoma City is priced as the 8-1 ‘chalk’ to win the summer league title, according to the Westgate SuperBook. Josh Giddey, who was the No. 6 pick in last year’s draft, was a surprise addition to the roster. He averaged 12.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 6.4 assists during his rookie campaign.
Detroit has the second-shortest odds at +900, while New Orleans is the third shot at 10-1. Former top draft pick Cade Cunningham will lead the Pistons in the league, which runs until July 17 at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.
“The Pistons are interesting because it almost looks like their NBA team,” SuperBook oddsmaker Jeff Sherman told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I can’t imagine Cade Cunningham is going to play much. I was even surprised he’s listed on the roster. They’re almost like the Thunder in that they’ve got a lot of players who expect to get minutes on their NBA team.”
BetOnline has posted props for Holmgren’s rookie season, listing his over-under for points per game at 13.5, with the ‘over’ shaded to -140. His total for rebounds per game is 7.5, while his blocks total has been set at 2 per game. He would have cashed the ‘over’ in points and blocks on Tuesday, but he would have gone ‘under’ his rebounds total by the hook.
