For players who are already familiar with the simpler NBA bets that feature a specific statistical category of a single NBA match, like who’s going to win (moneyline), what will be the point difference between the two teams in the end (point spread), or what will be the total amount of points (total), there are a bit more complex bets like parlays and teasers where you can put together a combination of two or more bets into one wager. But even with parlays and teasers, you bet on games that are played on the same night or within a few day difference.
There are bets which can include the entire season, or focus on the performance of an individual player, in one match, or throughout the season. These bets are called props and in this article we’re going to explain what props by giving a brief presentation of the two main types of prop bets, individual player props and team props.

Individual Player Prop Bets

When you’re placing an individual player prop bet, as the name suggests, you’re betting on the performance of a particular player. There are types of props which are placed on the overall performance of a player in the course of one season, or the play-off series. For example, you could bet on who’s going to be the MVP of the year. If, say, LeBron is considered to be the favorite for this award, the odds for him will be the lowest, and all the other players of the list will have greater odds. But you can also place prop bets on things like who’s going to have the highest number or rebounds per game, or assists per game, or steals, or blocks. A general advice is to look at the odds for each player on the list carefully. The player who has the lowest odds, isn’t a favorite without a reason, still it is not always the favorite that actually manages to be the best at a certain category.
You can also bet on single game performances of a particular player. For example, say that you want to bet how many points James Harden will score in a game. This prop would be an over/under type of a bet, and you’ll have the number of points, usually not given as a whole number, and you’ll have to guess whether he’ll score more or fewer points. The odds for over and under may be the same, or different. The all-star weekend is a great period for placing prop bets, because then sportsbooks introduce a great number of different individual player props.

Team Prop Bets

The most common type of an NBA team prop is the bet on how many games a team will win in a course of one season. Here, again, the bet will be given as over/under bet, usually featuring a whole number. So, if you want to bet how many games the Knicks will win in a course of a season and the set number is 38, you bet whether they’ll win more or fewer games than that. If you bet under and they win 37 or less you’ve won the bet and if you bet over and they win 39 or more, again, you’ve won. If they win exactly 38, then it’s a push. Still, some sportsbooks won’t set whole numbers and there won’t be any possibility for a push. The odds for over and under may or may not be the same.
You can also place team prop bets on other categories, like the average amount of points scored by a certain team, or the number of assists per game. Some props will become available throughout the course of the season and the sportsbooks will always surprise you with new and different props.