The 2026 NBA Finals did massive numbers across the board.
Viewership for the games was as high as it has been since 1998, five years before ESPN and ABC began producing the Finals in 2003, Google searches reached peak levels, social clips broke records for the NBA and Knicks related merchandise has been flying off the shelves.
Sportsbooks saw a record amount of action at the window as well. DraftKings told the Post that five of the six most bet NBA games in the sportsbook’s history all came from this NBA Finals series with Game 5 at the top for most-bet NBA game ever at DraftKings.
BetMGM said it saw a 28.6 percent jump in the average handle wagered on each game from the 2025 Finals to 2026 Finals. The Knicks were such a massive draw at BetMGM, the team became a liability midway through the series.
“Before the NBA Finals began, the sportsbook was cheering for the Knicks because the Spurs were the biggest remaining liability on the futures market,” BetMGM Sports Trader Anthony Parenti said. “However, by the time New York took a 2-0 series lead, our liability had flipped.”
BetMGM took several big bets on the Knicks before the series.
One bettor wagered $20,000 wager on the Knicks to win the title at 22/1 odds during the first round and another bettor wagered a $200,000 on the Knicks to win the Finals before the series began. The combined payout on those wagers alone was $750,000.
BetMGM wasn’t the only sportsbook to see huge bets come in during the series. One bettor in Nevada placed a $500,000 wager at Caesars Sportsbook on the Knicks to win the Finals at -140 odds after they won Game 1 of the series. That timely wager won the bettor over $350,000.
The Knicks’ improbable run to snap their championship drought turned nearly everyone watching into a fan of the team, especially the savvy bettors who believed they could pull it off.
“Knicks winning the title ended up making a lot of our customers very happy,” Parenti said.
Malik Smith has been immersed in the sports betting industry since 2017. He’s a data nerd with a particular focus on the NBA and combat sports. He spends his weeknights in the winter looking for edges on plus-money NBA player props.
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