2021 NBA Draft Odds: Cade Cunningham Opens As Betting Favorite

With the NBA regular season winding down, it's time to start looking forward to the future for some teams and their fan bases. That's where the NBA Draft comes in. This draft in particular, which takes place on July 29th, is absolutely loaded with franchise changing players. This draft is being heralded as one of the most talented in years, which leads us to the big question, who is going No. 1? From a betting perspective, BetMGM released their opening odds for the first pick, so let's take a quick look.

Oklahoma State guard Cade Cunningham opened as a huge -500 favorite to be the first player selected. Looking further, there are a couple of big names that should attract bettor’s attention, such as Gonzaga guard Jalen Suggs (+800) and USC big man Evan Mobley (+800).

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Cunningham has seemed to be the heir apparent for the No. 1 spot since coming out of high school from Monteverde Academy. By all accounts, he lived up to the hype in college, carrying the Oklahoma State Cowboys to the NCAA Tournament. During the season, he averaged 20.1 points per game, 6.2 rebounds a game, and 3.5 assists a game.

“Cade Cunningham looks to be the best prospect by far in this draft class," Darren Darby, Sports Trader at BeMGM, said. "Cunningham has size, ball handling skills and can play both ways."

While Cunningham has certainly made his case to be the first pick, this draft has at least a handful of guys that can turn around a franchise. That's why I wouldn't count out any of the guys that are listed in the top-five.

Suggs, for instance, put on a show during March Madness which helped raise his stock considerably during his freshmen campaign. As did Mobley, at USC.

Behind the trio of Cunningham, Suggs, and Mobley, comes Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga. Both players went the G League route, but played extremely well during their season. In fact, both guys drew rave reviews from league executives and scouts alike. Currently, both players are listed at +1000 on the oddsboard to be taken first overall.

The NBA Draft Lottery and the Combine are coming up in June, which should help give everyone a better understanding of where some of these studs will end up.

One thing to keep in mind as we get closer to the draft, these odds will shift considerably as bettors set the market and news trickles out. Nevertheless, it's always interesting to see how players are perceived early by the books.