BetMGM: Bettors Showing Raptors Lots of Love on NBA Over/Under Front
Posted on: August 4, 2025, 02:44h.
Last updated on: August 4, 2025, 02:44h.
- Power rankings have Raptors at No. 24 two months away from start of season
- Raptors generating most bets (tickets and handle) in Overs at BetMGM (37.5)
When it comes to Over/Under betting for the upcoming NBA season, the Toronto Raptors are seeing a lot of love, despite power rankings showing them way down among teams.
Perkins-Simmons Tiff
Last month Kendrick Perkins and Bill Simmons had a well-publicized beef after Perkins said on ESPN that he thought the Raptors will be a Top 6 seed in the Eastern Conference this season after the Raptors took Collin Murray-Boyles first in the NBA draft in June.
Do I take this samurai sword and jam it into my temple or I do take this chain saw and saw my leg off,” Simmons said on his podcast in June. “They took Collin Murray-Boyles. Perk said they have the pieces, and they are a Top 6 team in the East. At that point I started looking for a third ESPN channel. But there are only two covering the draft.”
So, no Raptors’ love there. Perkins didn’t like the comments and fired back at Simmons.
Raptors Lower in Power Rankings
In current NBA power rankings, the Raptors sit around 24th. Some have them as a playoff team in the East, however.
Bettors, according to BetMGM, see something different there. Stats released by the sports betting operator has the Raptors generating most bet overs (37.5, at -120) in tickets, at 97%, and most bet overs in handle, at 99%.
Most bet overs also include the L.A. Clippers (48.5) and the San Antonio Spurs (43.5) in tickets, and the Charlotte Hornets (25.5) and the Chicago Bulls (32.5) in handle.
Most bet unders? The Boston Celtics (43.5), Milwaukee Bucks (43.5) and New Orleans Pelicans (30.5) in tickets, and the Cleveland Cavaliers (56.5), Indiana Pacers (38.5) and Bucks in handle.
The Ingram Effect
Bettors are no doubt enthusiastic about where the Raptors sit with training camp still two months off, even though 37.5 wins isn’t much to celebrate. Much of that enthusiasm comes down to Brandon Ingram, a 27-year-old, NBA All-Star whom the Raptors acquired in a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans last February, and quickly re-signed to a contract extension.
Ingram had an ankle injury all last season, and didn’t play for the Raptors after they acquired him, but he’s good to go for this season, and a lot of the enthusiasm around the Raptors is with the potential fit of the talented Ingram around the Raptors’ other star, Scottie Barnes. Ingram said in July the Raptors are making the playoffs “for sure.”
In 495 career NBA games with the Lakers and Pelicans, Ingram, a former Most Improved Player, has averaged 19.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.3 assists.
The current Raptors’ depth chart has Barnes at power forward, Ingram at small forward, Immanuel Quickley at point guard, R.J. Barrett at shooting guard, and Jakob Poeltl at centre.
Those bettors enthusiastic about the Raptors are also factoring in a Boston Celtics team minus Jayson Tatum for the season (torn Achilles), a Philadelphia 76ers team minus Joel Embiid and Paul George, the Bucks without Damian Lillard (released) and the Indiana Pacers without Tyrese Haliburton (torn Achilles).
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