Bronny James has most bets to go No. 1 overall in 2024 NBA Draft at BetMGM

LeBron's son (200-1 odds) has more wagers than No. 1 pick favorite Alexandre Sarr

We get a lot of media emails in the sports betting world, but one market update from BetMGM stood out above the rest today. BetMGM provided an update on the market to be drafted No. 1 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft (June 26-27), and while there certainly isn’t the caliber of last year’s draft with a top prize like Victor Wembanyama, there are plenty of good players available.

What stood out was that LeBron James’ son, Bronny James, had the most bets overall to go No. 1 in the draft, even with his odds at 200-1. And for comparison, Purdue big man Zach Edey also has odds of 200-1 and I doubt you can find one person who believes he’ll be going first in next month’s draft.

James (22.5% of bets) had slightly more wagers than the favorite to go No. 1 Alexandre Sarr (-300), who also had 22.5% of bets so far.

Yes, it’s very early in the process and yes, there aren’t a lot of bets in the total pot — but it’s still an interesting trend that I certainly wasn’t expecting. Bronny represents the worst outcome for BetMGM to go No. 1 overall, but the sportsbook doesn’t appear to be losing any sleep.

“We’re not concerned with racking up a liability there,” Halvor Egeland, BetMGM NBA trader texted me on Monday. “It’s all relatively small wagers, but it’s what we expected. As for the biggest wager, it’s nothing over $100.”

LeBron had spoken at length about wanting to play with his son in his final NBA seasons, but has walked back those comments some in the past few months.

In BetMGM’s market to draft Bronny, the Los Angeles Lakers (+180) are the overwhelming favorite and have the most bets (22.1%) and second-most handle (33%), while the Cleveland Cavaliers (10-1) have the second-best odds and number of bets (18.3%). The Cavs have the highest total dollars wagered (34.3%).

This will certainly be an interesting storyline to monitor.