Knicks Draw Nearly Half of Finals Futures Money
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- Knicks have drawn nearly half of all money wagered on the NBA Finals winner at DraftKings Sportsbook in New York, matching the combined wagers on every other team.
- Spurs opened as -220 favorites to win the Finals, while the Knicks were listed at about +180; by Sunday the Spurs slipped to -200 as the line moved toward the rested Knicks.
- Knicks entered the Finals on an 11‑game winning streak after sweeping their two Eastern Conference series and enjoy eight days of rest, whereas the Spurs survived a seven‑game series against Oklahoma City and are 4.5‑point favorites for Game 1.
- ESPN reports this is the ninth Finals pairing of a sweep‑team versus a seven‑game team, and historically the sweep team has gone 5‑3 in those matchups.
- Victor Wembanyama, the NBA Defensive Player of the Year, is a -185 favorite to win Finals MVP—the only player to capture both DPOY and MVP in the same season since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1994, per ESPN Research.
Why it matters: DraftKings and Caesars risk massive payouts as nearly half of all Finals futures money backs the Knicks, making the underdog a liability for the books and prompting odds to tighten ahead of Game 1.
