The betting community has had quite the day leading up to the draft.
Really, it’s been more like quite the 48 hours. In an absolutely wild back-and-forth between Adrian Wojnarowski, oddsmakers and bettors, the lines for Jabari Smith Jr. and Paolo Banchero to go No. 1 overall continued to fluctuate in massive ways.
Smith saw his odds shift from -600 down to -10000 and back up to +125 in the last 12 hours alone.
Most of that was due to the reporting of Woj, who first tweeted Smith was the favorite at No. 1 this morning before updating his report to say Banchero was the new favorite just 15 minutes before the Magic made the Duke star the top pick.
As team boards finalize today, the 1-2-3 of the NBA Draft is increasingly firm, per sources: Jabari Smith to Orlando, Chet Holmgren to Oklahoma City and Paolo Banchero to Houston.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 23, 2022
As the Orlando Magic move closer to getting on the clock, Duke's Paolo Banchero is now looming as a frontrunner to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 23, 2022
Once the pick was announced, bettors everywhere lost it.