Kyrie Irving may have opted into the final year of his contract with the Brooklyn Nets, yet his future with the team still appears murky. Based on multiple reports, the door seems to remain ajar for a potential trade before the 2022-23 NBA season begins.
All this uncertainty would conceivably make it difficult for online sportsbooks in New York to price Brooklyn in the futures market.
Several reports had linked Irving to the Los Angeles Lakers before his opt-in, with the sides unable to make things work via free agency (due to lack of cap space) or trade (no match on players).
Likewise, Kevin Durant’s four-year extension is about to begin. But his future with the franchise also seems unsettled. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN said Wednesday morning that both Irving and Durant need to re-engage with the franchise and start to do some team-building.
All this has created difficulty accurately projecting how the Nets will do next season, let alone pricing the NY online sports betting futures for Brooklyn.
Kevin Durant causes more NY sports betting concern for Nets
As of Wednesday morning, the Nets are at +700 on both FanDuel NY Sportsbook and DraftKings NY Sportsbook, while they sit at +750 on Caesars New York. On Tuesday, BetMGM NY had Brooklyn at +850, with just 2.4% of tickets and 3% of handle on the Nets to win it all.
“We are more concerned with Kevin Durant wanting to run it back with Kyrie, and the money that moves markets,” Caesars VP of trading Craig Mucklow told PlayNY on Tuesday.
“When the original news broke, we adjusted the Lakers and they were the only real destination and we saw a couple big bets on the back of that news. Once the ESPN news broke, we adjusted back slightly, but all offseason the money usually appears right before the news and we adjust accordingly.”
Added Johnny Avello, director of race and sportsbook operations for DraftKings: “We have a price on them as if (Kyrie) were staying and we’ll keep close tabs on the entire state of affairs, adjusting accordingly.”
Could Brooklyn Nets contend for NBA title?
Brooklyn has the potential to be an Eastern Conference contender with a core of Durant, Irving and Ben Simmons. The Nets also have some offseason moves ahead of them, which include the likely re-signing of Nic Claxton.
But the franchise has been dysfunctional ever since Irving refused to get vaccinated, throwing last season into a downward spiral that ended with a first-round sweep at the hands of the Boston Celtics.
And it remains to be seen what the roster will look like heading into training camp, making the Nets a must-watch team on the NBA betting futures market. There will, of course, be a flurry of moves to evaluate around the league with free agency set to begin Thursday night.
What about the New York Knicks betting futures?
Meanwhile, the New York Knicks seem poised to add point guard Jalen Brunson via a free-agent deal in the four-year, $110 million range, per reports.
The Knicks sit at +15000 at both FanDuel and Caesars, with DraftKings coming in at +20000.
Yet, as of Tuesday, Caesars tweeted that the Knicks had somehow received more bets to win the title next year than the Nets.
