Basketball

2021 NBA Draft odds, props, TV schedule, prospect rankings: Who follows Cade Cunningham after the first pick?


The 2021 NBA Draft is Thursday, July 29, at 8 p.m. Eastern. It returns to the Barclays Center in New York as an in-person event after the 2020 draft was held remotely.

The Detroit Pistons have the first pick and are widely expected to select Cade Cunningham from Oklahoma State. Cunningham is currently -5000 to go No. 1 overall on BetMGM. The guard has long been projected to go first overall, and that is expected to hold on Thursday.

The Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic round out the top five in that order. The Magic also have the eighth pick after trading Nikola Vucevic to Chicago in March. The Rockets (2, 23, 24) and Thunder (6, 16, 18) each have three picks in the first round.

How to watch

ABC, ESPN and NBA TV will broadcast the 2021 NBA Draft. It’ll also be available via the ESPN app on streaming devices. ABC has the first round only, while ESPN and NBA TV will show both rounds.

Mock drafts

Sam Vecenie’s live updating mock draft

John Hollinger’s mock draft: Cunningham goes No. 1, trade talk dominates rest

Player rankings

2021 NBA Draft Consensus Big Board: The top 85 players ranked, from Cade Cunningham to John Petty

Top 100 NBA Draft prospects for 2021: Final rankings, tiers and Big Board

Ranking the best offensive skills, led by Jalen Suggs and Jalen Green

Ranking the best defensive skills, led by Davion Mitchell and Evan Mobley

Draft order

Odds

Cunningham is heavily favored to go No. 1, and 99 percent of the money at BetMGM is on him going No. 1. After that, there are favorites, but nothing as obvious. Jalen Green is -400 to go No. 2, followed by Evan Mobley at +350.

If the favorites for each pick are correct, the top five will go, Cunningham, Green, Mobley, Jalen Suggs and Scottie Barnes in that order. A parlay of the top four from that group in that exact order only pays -120.

Place a $1 bet at BetMGM to get a free year subscription to The Athletic, plus $100 in bonus bets. 

Outside of betting on the top five picks, player draft position totals are also available. In these bets, and over bet refers to the player being picked after the listed position. An under bet is a wager on a player being selected before the listed position.

Comparing BetMGM lines against the mock drafts from Vecenie and Hollinger shows some potential value plays. Below are the biggest differences between the consensus mock drafts and the betting lines.

Moses Moody under 11.5 (-145)

Both mock drafts have Moody at No. 8 to Orlando. Vecenie notes that he’s had Moody in his top 11 since March and fits the Magic’s style.

Hollinger: The Magic love length, and Moody has a 7-foot-1 wingspan from the guard spot, which allows him to comfortably check 2s and 3s. Compared to the other potential players Orlando might select in this spot, he wins the length battle comfortably.

Jalen Johnson over 14.5 (-135)

The Duke product could go to a number of teams in the middle of the first round, but Hollinger has him going No. 18 while Vecenie has him slipping to No. 24.

Vecenie: I’ve referenced throughout the draft process that his range is extremely wide and that teams are not quite as enamored with him as the previous lottery projections would have had you believe. There has not been a point this season where I had Johnson in the lottery on my personal board. It’s possible he could end up in the latter portion of the lottery if some team like Indiana decides to take a flier, but I think I would be pretty surprised at this point.

Sharife Cooper over 22.5 (-135)

The Auburn freshman went much later in both mocks. Hollinger had him at No. 28 to Philadelphia while Vecenie placed him No. 29 to Phoenix.

Vecenie: He has a very wide range, and it’s a bit telling that he has not been invited to the NBA Draft Green Room yet. I believe he’s likely to hear his name somewhere in the back half of the first round. This is on the lower end of his range. He could end up going higher than this, and it’s just hard to find the landing spot.

Cam Thomas over 22.5 (+100)

Both Hollinger and Vecenie have Thomas going at No. 27. The LSU freshman is a talented scorer, but has significant work to do on the rest of his game.

Vecenie: Teams seem a bit apprehensive about him at this point. Even though I was slightly lower on him in general, I think this is probably at the low end of his range, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear his name called in the teens.

(Photo of Cade Cunningham: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images; The Athletic may receive an affiliate commission if you open an account with BetMGM through links contained in the above article.)

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