The Los Angeles Lakers are almost always favored in online wagering, in large part because they have Kobe Bryant. The Lakers are heavily followed by those wagering online and Kobe gets a lot of the attention.
Online wagering lists the Lakers as one of the favorites to win the NBA title this season. Los Angeles is led by Kobe Bryant and if you go by jersey sales, Kobe is the most popular player in the league. His number 24 jersey is the top-seller in the NBA. He also had the top jersey in terms of sale in 2008-09. Last year it was LeBron James who had the most popular jersey but this year LeBron is second. Surprisingly, Kevin Garnett had the third most popular jersey. His jersey was followed in popularity by a Derrick Rose Jersey and an Orlando Magic jersey. It probably won’t be long before Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant cracks the Top 5. His jersey was up to number nine in sales this year.
The most popular team overall in terms of merchandise sales was the Los Angeles Lakers. They are almost always in that position. The second most popular team in merchandise sales was the Boston Celtics. Cleveland, Chicago and New York rounded out the Top five. It is hard to believe that the Knicks are fifth in sales considering how bad they have been recently. It just shows how big of a market New York is even when the Knicks are losing.
When gamblers are wagering online on the Lakers they pay the price for the popularity of the team. The Lakers are almost always overvalued in NBA odds. Even though the Lakers had the best record in the Western Conference during the regular season they did not have a winning record against the online wagering point spread. The Lakers did not have a winning record vs. the spread at home or on the road. In the regular season, the Lakers were 33-46-3 vs. the point spread. They were 16-23-2 at home vs. the number and they had an almost identical spread record on the road as they were 17-23-1. The Lakers were actually a team that went under the total more than they went over in the regular season. 46 of their 82 regular season games went under the total and even at home 23 of their home games went under.