What this means is that if you bet on the LA Lakers to beat the point spread basketball handicap, they must win the game by 6 points. Using this example to illustrate basketball spreads, we can say that the Lakers is the favored team to win with the New Orleans Pelicans as the underdog. As part of the NBA spreads market, a sportsbook lists the following: LA Lakers -5.5 vs New Orleans Pelicans +5.5. Let’s assume an example using the Lakers and the Pelicans who will play for a hypothetical match. When preparing the betting markets, the sportsbook identifies a favorite and it’s listed as minus (-) and the underdog that’s listed as plus (+).
