NBA bettors are burning money on Bronny James to win Rookie of the Year and there's only 1 logical explanation for why

Bronny James isn't winning Rookie of the Year, but people are betting on him anyway.

Bronny James will be lucky to earn any significant playing time next NBA season, let alone put himself in play to win Rookie of the Year.

Though oddsmakers did put a number on his chances to claim the award, James’ +25000 odds are the worst of any player on the board at BetMGM. However, rather than cool fans’ expectations for what they should be expecting from the Los Angeles Lakers’ 55th overall pick, those long odds have attracted enough action to make James the biggest liability to win the award.

People are hammering James, and it makes absolutely no sense for a player who averaged just 4.8 points for a bad college team last year.

Bronny James is +25000 to win NBA Rookie of the Year – worst odds of any player.

33% of bets (most) are on Bronny to win the award at #BetMGM pic.twitter.com/H8UZB48qud

— John Ewing (@johnewing) July 1, 2024

Yet, bettors seem to be more than willing to burn their money on James. With him attracting 33% of bets to win the award, no one else is even close.

“No surprise, our biggest liability is Bronny,” BetMGM trader Christian Cipollini told VegasInsider. “He’s not our most-bet player by money, but Bronny has by far the most action of the long shots.”

Why would this be the case?

There’s one reason that makes even a little sense, and it’s that people don’t know who else to bet on. There is no clear-cut favorite like Victor Wembanyama this year. Several players could make a case to win ROY, and James is the most recognizable name from the class. So that’s where the money is going.

It’s not a logical way to bet, but we’ve seen it before. The wave of new fans Caitlin Clark brought to the WNBA made her the most-bet player to win MVP… as a rookie.