Bronny James' underwhelming debut should serve as a reality check for overzealous Rookie of the Year bettors

Bronny James' NBA debut Tuesday night was special. But not for anything he did in the game.

James' mere participation made him and LeBron James the first father-son duo to play in an NBA game together. But once we moved past the theatrics of the two checking in together in the second quarter, and the clock started rolling, Bronny did little to impact a win for the Los Angeles Lakers.

In fact, his total time on the court lasted just three minutes. He missed his only two shot attempts, and the only stat he recorded was a rebound. It was a sobering reality check for the many NBA bettors who put money on James to win the 2024-25 NBA Rookie of the Year award.

James' 300-1 odds at BetMGM are the longest of any player on the board. To say he's a long-shot is an understatement. Yet, he's the most ticketed player to win Rookie of the Year at the sportsbook, attracting 17.6% of bets going into Tuesday's game. That makes him the biggest liability in the awards market at BetMGM.

"Bronny James winning rookie of the year is the worst NBA awards result right now," BetMGM trading strategy manager Halvor Egeland said.

Based on what we saw against the Minnesota Timberwolves, BetMGM won't have to worry much. Or any sportsbook for that matter. Forget about playing well, James may not play much at all.

There's actually a good chance many of the Bronny James bettors know how unrealistic his chances are. James was BetMGM's biggest liability in the No. 1 overall draft pick market too, even as he was always likely to slip to the second round. However, ESPN reported that some of those bets were placed by sharp bettors trying to fool sportsbooks.

They were dumbing down their bets in an attempt to have limits removed.

I'm not sure how well the strategy worked, but maybe it proved to be effective. That's the only explanation for why so many people are betting on James to win Rookie of the Year.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Bronny James' underwhelming debut should serve as a reality check for overzealous Rookie of the Year bettors