NBA bettors have taken to Twitter Sunday to protest all Giannis Antetokounmpo Game 1 player props — or at least the OVERs — after the former MVP injured his back and left the game versus the Heat following a fall on a first-quarter layup attempt. 'Void Giannis' was trending shortly thereafter, with furious fans and bettors arguing they should not lose a full-game stat prop after a star player missed over three quarters of a game in the NBA Playoffs.
FanDuel has drawn particular ire, as the popular sportsbook promoted an 'odds boost' parlay involving Antetokounmpo earlier in the day. The three legs: Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant, and Kevin Durant all score 25+ points. The player prop would have yielded +180 odds, but the odds boost bumped it up to +300 to entice more action. Like Giannis in the Bucks-Heat game, Morant missed a big chunk of the Grizzlies' Game 1 loss to the Lakers.
📈 𝙉𝘽𝘼 𝙊𝘿𝘿𝙎 𝘽𝙊𝙊𝙎𝙏 📈
— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) April 16, 2023
Ja Morant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant to each score 25+ points.
Was: +180
Now: +300🔺
➡️ https://t.co/boOY3bT479 | #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/kPUmB80BRy
This is not the first time bettors have taken to online forums and social sites to protest Giannis-related player props. The Bucks perennial All-NBA selection logged just 20 seconds in the 2023 NBA All-Star Game, losing a bunch of his OVER bettors a lot of collective exhibition-game prop cash. Some betting and player prop sites like PrizePicks voided the 'More' or OVER bets involving Giannis, refunding any bets that lost because he missed time due to injury. PrizePicks similarly 'rebooted' users who bet Giannis 'More' picks on Sunday night, stating "we've got your back all Playoffs" with a handshake emoji.
🚨REBOOT🚨
— PrizePicks (@PrizePicks) April 16, 2023
All full-game More picks on Giannis Antetokounmpo have been Rebooted
We've got your back all Playoffs 🤝 pic.twitter.com/oEmonEu5sP
'Giannis' was the No. 1 trending topic in the United States just after the Bucks' loss to Jimmy Butler and the Heat a few minutes before 8:30 p.m. During the game, 'Void Giannis' had trended in both Twitter 'sports' and Twitter U.S. in general. Meanwhile, FanDuel has yet to comment on or post about any Giannis player props, including the odds boost parlay. Other major 'books have been similarly silent.
The masses of disappointed bettors will be anything but silent, at least for tonight. But don't expect the major sportsbooks to do much. The fine print in player props typically states that each player involved must play in the game for that prop or parlay leg to count. If a player in a single-prop bet does not play at all, the bet is voided and the stake is refunded to the user. If one player in a multi-leg parlay does not play whatsoever, that individual leg is voided and the odds are deducted and recalculated accordingly so the rest of the parlay can remain active.
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In this case, parlays and odds boosts and even single-player prop bets involving Giannis are marked as losers despite the fact that the superstar played just 11 minutes compared to his season-long average of 32.1 minutes per game. It stinks for bettors, but 'dem's the brakes.' It's yet another reminder to not put the bulk of your bankroll on individual player stat props. And if you do go that route and a major player gets hurt, be prepared to hedge. At halftime, fellow Bucks star Khris Middleton's points over/under was 24.5 at -102, a great bet considering the increased second-half usage he was sure to receive in the wake of Antetokounmpo's injury. Middleton finished the game with 33 points, 19 of which came in the final two frames.
Bad luck plays a part in betting just like it plays a part in NBA regular-season and playoff games. Just like true contenders bounce back from bad-luck losses, sharp bettors recover ably from bad beats. Some take to Twitter to lobby against the sportsbooks and make empty threats about class-action suits. Others target the best live-betting value they can find for the rest of the game, do some damage control, and win back some of what they lost.
The more sports betting rises in popularity in America, the more squawking we will see on Twitter about how sportsbooks handle impactful factors like injuries. But as long as the 'books remain popular, expect the biggest ones to do very little to give cash back to their users in good faith.
