NBA betting trends to look at this week

The NBA season has reached a point where it feels reliable to look at betting trends from the year to infer expected outcomes for the future.

A new weekly feature here on Yardbarker will be looking at every NBA team and their record against the spread (ATS) and against over/unders.

The goal is to familiarize ourselves with the league and find matchups for the week that stick out. For example, two teams that excel at hitting their overs, or one great team ATS playing the worst team ATS.

Best and Worst NBA Betting Teams ATS

All trends are courtesy of TeamRankings.com, and betting trends are updated as of January 18.

The Top Ten Teams ATS:

1. Cleveland Cavaliers (29-13-3)
2. Oklahoma City Thunder (28-14-1)
3. Memphis Grizzlies (30-16)
4. Charlotte Hornets (27-17)
5. Miami Heat (26-18)
6. Golden State Warriors (24-17-2)
7. Chicago Bulls (24-18)
8. Phoenix Suns (24-19)
9. Toronto Raptors (22-19)
10. Minnesota Timberwolves (23-20)

The Bottom Ten Teams ATS:

32. Atlanta Hawks (16-27)
31. Brooklyn Nets (16-26-1)
30. Portland Trail Blazers (17-26)
29. LA Lakers (18-26)
28. Denver Nuggets (18-24)
27. Houston Rockets (19-25-1)
26. Sacramento Kings (20-26)
25. Milwaukee Bucks (20-26)
24. Washington Wizards (19-24-1)
23. Orlando Magic (20-25)

This Week's Games to Monitor ATS

There are a handful of games through Sunday that will see a top-10 ATS team meet a bottom-10 squad. While this does not guarantee that the better team will cover the spread, it remains noteworthy.

The games that stick out are below, with their ATS rank next to their name.

Wednesday

• Portland (#30) at Miami (#5)
• Minnesota (#10) at Atlanta (#32)
• Memphis (#3) at Milwaukee (#25)

Friday

• Miami (#5) at Atlanta (#32)
• Toronto (#9) at Washington (#24)
• Chicago (#7) at Milwaukee (#25)
• Memphis (#3) at Denver (#28)
• Houston (#27) at Golden State (#6)

Sunday

• LA Lakers (#29) at Miami (#5)
• Chicago (#7) at Orlando (#23)
• Portland (#30) at Toronto (#9)
• Atlanta (#32) at Charlotte (#4)
• Brooklyn (#31) at Minnesota (#10)

Betting a team against the spread brings in many factors beyond how each team has performed in this betting metric, but it's a piece of the puzzle, so hopefully you can find this to be a resource as you plan your week's NBA bets.

Best and Worst NBA Betting Teams Against Over/Unders