While the first month of the NBA season is short, getting off to a hot start in October can set the tone for the entire year. BetWisconsin.com – your source for Wisconsin sports betting - used ChampsorChumps.us to find every NBA team’s October record since the 2017-18 season to determine the best and worst clubs during the first calendar month of the season.
Because not every franchise has played the same number of games in October, teams were ranked based on win percentage during the month. (Note that no regular season games were played in October during the 2020-21 season due to the schedule changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic). This is how each team has fared over the last five Octobers with normal games:
NBA Team Records in October Since 2017-18
October Has Been Good for Bucks
Given that the Bucks own the best record in the NBA over the last six seasons at 315-158, it should come as little surprise that Milwaukee has been the league’s best team in October over that span, too. Now, with Damian Lillard in tow following his acquisition in a Sept. 27 trade, the franchise hopes to round back into championship form after last year’s disappointing first-round playoff exit against the Miami Heat.
There are no Wisconsin betting apps, but in other states the Bucks enter this season as title co-favorites with the Boston Celtics at +400 at DraftKings Sportsbook, down from +850 before they swapped Jrue Holiday, Grayson Allen and picks for Lillard. Per SportsOddsHistory.com, this is Milwaukee’s shortest preseason championship odds during their current run of seven consecutive playoff appearances, as the Bucks previously peaked at +550 to win the title before both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.
Lillard gives Milwaukee the best player they have ever paired with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Recently, we examined the Bucks’ preseason wins projections with their dynamic duo.
However, the team will have little time to integrate Lillard into the system with how their schedule begins. Although the Bucks’ strength of schedule ranks tied for fourth easiest in the league, per Positiveresidual.com, they open with a stretch of six games in a row against Eastern Conference opponents that finished last season at .500 or above.
Only three of those games will take place in October, but they include crucial contests against two of the other top five contenders in the conference. The Bucks’ first game comes at home against the Philadelphia 76ers Oct. 26 in a rematch of last year’s opener. Milwaukee defeated the Sixers by two in Philadelphia to start the 2022-23 season and went on to split the season series with them, 2-2. The Sixers sit third in the East at +750 to win the conference and +1800 to win the title, per DraftKings, but they will enter Fiserv Forum as 5-point underdogs in a few weeks, according to the sportsbook.
After two days off, the Bucks will play back-to-back games Oct. 29 and 30 vs. the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat, both also at home. Like with the Sixers, Milwaukee split the regular season series with both Atlanta and Miami 2-2 last year, but the game against the Heat takes on extra intrigue because of Miami’s 4-1 playoff series win over the Bucks and how the Lillard saga played out this offseason.
The Heat were long considered the favorites to land Lillard but could not come up with an appropriate trade package to swing a deal despite his preference to move to Miami, leading the Bucks to bring in the seven-time All-Star to extend their window and placate Antetokounmpo, who can opt out of his contract after next season. Antetokounmpo missed Games 2 and 3 and only played 11 minutes in Game 1 of the Bucks-Heat series last season due to a back injury.
Giannis and Lillard will form one of the most potent scoring duos in league history as they both finished top 5 in the NBA in scoring in 2022-23, each averaging over 31 points per game. DraftKings sets the Bucks regular season over/under win total at 54.5. When mobile betting does come to the state, make sure to look out for a DraftKings Wisconsin sports betting promo code.
