The National Basketball Association (NBA) is like the Big Bang, giving us billions and billions of stars like Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James, and evolving into one of the most prominent professional sports leagues on planet Earth.​

The NBA will open up the 2026-27 NBA Regular Season—the league’s 81st season—with three games on Tuesday and another 11 games on the Wednesday slate, including Anthony Edwards and Minnesota at Miami (ESPN, 7:30 EDT/4:30 PDT), Cooper Flagg and Dallas at Houston (8:30 EDT/5:30 PDT), and veteran Stephen Curry and Golden State at the Lakers (ESPN, 10 EDT/7 PDT).​

The 2026-27 NBA Regular Season runs from October 20 to April 11, 2027, with the 2027 NBA Postseason tipping off with the Play-in Tournament (April 13-16), followed by the NBA Playoffs (April 17-May) and the 2027 NBA Finals (2027), where the New York Knicks will look to repeat.​

The in-season NBA Cup is to be contested in games played between October 30 and December 11, with 2026 NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson and the Knickerbockers also winning that trophy, ironically beating the Spurs at the T-Mobile Center in Las Vegas on December 16, 2025 (124-113).​

The NBA has 30 teams, and they will play the traditional 82 games. One of the biggest offseason moves saw the Bucks get four players from the Heat for star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who will take his talents to South Beach and play with a bare-bones roster.​

The biggest move saw superstar LeBron James head to the City of Brotherly Love and Foul Moods, where King James will likely play out his illustrious NBA career in Philly alongside Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Jaylen Brown, also acquired over the summer from Boston.​

The Trail Blazers strengthened their roster, which includes Damian Lillard and Donovan Clingan, by trading for Ja Morant from Memphis in a multi-team shuffle. In a controversial, possibly corrupt deal, the Raptors got Kawhi Leonard from the Los Angeles Clippers.​

In the 2026 NBA Draft, BYU baller AJ Dybantsa was the #1 pick by the Washington Wizards, but it may take some millennia for The Dribblers Formerly Known As The Bullets to be a threat in the NBA. For me, the Eastern Conference is now finally as good as the Western Conference.​

The 2026-27 NBA Regular Season will show if the Eastern Conference is really as good, or maybe better now, than the Western Conference, which has dominated so long, winning 18 NBA championships with teams like the Lakers, Warriors, and Spurs dominating the hardwood.​

Last season, the Western Conference went 249-203 against the Eastern Conference, and posted a 638-592 record (51.9%) overall. Adding LeBron, Kawhi, and #1 pick Dybantsa should strengthen the Eastern Conference.​

In Polymarket’s Eastern Conference Champion market, traders like the 76ers (21%) over the defending champ Knicks (19%), followed by the Celtics (13%), Heat (11%), Raptors (9%), Pistons (8%), Cavs (7%), Pacers (5%), Wizards (3%), Hawks (2%), Magic (2%), and Hornets (1%).

​Over in the Western Conference Champion, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder (34%) and Victor Wembanyama and the defending conference champion Spurs (33%) are the big dogs as expected, followed by the Timberwolves (11%), Nuggets (7%), Lakers (7%), and Warriors (4%).​

The longshots in the West are the Rockets (4%), Mavericks (2%), Clippers (2%), Suns (2%), Trail Blazers (2%), Kings (2%), Jazz (2%), and now Ja Morant-less Grizzlies (2%). Oklahoma City is the favorite to become the NBA Cup Champion. Could one of these seven teams pull off the upset?​

In the big daddy market, the NBA 2027 Champion, it’s Wemby and the Spurs (23%) expected to win this time around, with the Thunder (20%), 76ers (10%), Knicks (10%), Timberwolves (7%), Celtics (6%), Heat (4%), Raptors (3%), and veteran Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets (3%) all following.​

🔮Trading Thoughts: The addition of LBJ and Brown to the 76ers is massive, but Brunson and the Knicks will want to show they weren’t just a one-hit wonder. The Celtics lost a lot; the Pacers got Tyrese Haliburton back from injury and look to have a dream season as they did two years ago.​

Losing LBJ hurts the Lakers, but they aren’t winning anything anyway. OKC is aging, while Dylan Harper and a young SA look to claim the crown as the new power in the West, but teams like the Nuggets, Timberwolves, and Warriors, who drafted Yaxel Lendeborg (MICH), are still contenders.​

🏀2026-27 NBA Finals Winner Pick: Philadelphia 76ers, Yes 10.1¢

The NBA MVP winner is usually a stat-stuffer, like last year, OKC G Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 6.6 APG), who won the MVP award for a second straight year. Nuggets’ legend Nikola Jokić was second in the voting, followed by the Spurs' giant Victor Wembanyama.​

At Polymarket US in the 2026-27 NBA MVP trade, Victor Wembanyama (34%) is the heavy favorite, with Luka Dončić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (15%), Nikola Jokić (12%), Anthony Edwards (7%), Giannis Antetokounmpo (7%), and Jayon Tatum (6%) all following in trading order.​

Longshots include 2026 NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson (3%), Cade Cunningham (3%), Kawhi Leonard (3%), Bam Adebayo (2%), Stephen Curry (2%), Tyrese Halliburton (2%), Zion Williamson (2%), Cooper Flagg (2%), LaMelo Ball (1%), LeBron James (1%), and new teammate Ty Maxey (1%).​

🔮Trading Thoughts: We are seeking a stat-stuffer, and odds are, Embiid, LeBron, Maxey, and Jaylen Brown all have great numbers but draw from each other’s potential to ultimately become the MVP. Wembanyama scores, rebounds, and passes, very rare in the French giraffe species.​

Can SGA win a third straight year? Sure he can, but voters may be tired of him. Jokić also scores, boards, and runs the floor as well as any big man in NBA history. The 31-year-old Serb sensation has won this award thrice and scored 27.7 PPG, had 12.9 RPG (#1), and averaged 10.7 APG (#1).​

Since when does a center lead the NBA in assists? Since now, Mr. Peanut Brain. Can you read words and numbers? The number “1” means no one was better at rebounding or assists in the NBA in a league full of young and bouncy dunkers. Nikola Jokić and Nikola Tesla don’t need to dunk.​

🏀2026-27 NBA MVP Winner Pick: Nikola Jokić, Yes 12¢​

On Thursday, October 8, the National Football League (NFL) filed an amicus curiae brief supporting the state of New Jersey’s request to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to review sports-event contracts on prediction markets.​

The league and others—the states predominantly and tribes—don’t think the Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is in a position to oversee the sports-contract part of the prediction market industry in a classic Feds vs. the States battle that we have seen before.​

Joining the push, the AGs from 39 states (and D.C.) also filed an amicus brief supporting New Jersey 7, and the big issue is whether sports-event contracts offered by prediction markets should be subject to the same laws that regulate sportsbooks in the states.​

The markets (games, events, futures) and products (parlays, props, awards) offered by prediction markets mimic those in traditional sports betting, and the two biggest players in that market—DraftKings and FanDuel—opened their own prediction markets last year.​

The High Court, which returned for the October Term 2026 on Monday, October 5, 2026, has not yet decided when or if it will rule on the case (Flaherty v. KalshiEx, LLC / New Jersey's petition).​

Some think a decision even to grant review won’t come until 2027, so the NFL and states’ legal “hustle up” paperwork and media attention may speed up any potential Supreme Court intervention.  Still, with four women on the court, sports may stay in the backseat for now.​

Speaking at the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in LV, Florida-based gaming attorney Daniel Wallach gave a timeline where the court could “take up the cases in December 2026 or January 2027, hear arguments in March or April, and issue a decision by June,” as Covers.com’s Ryan Butler reported.​

Wallach—a must-follow on Twitter (@WALLACHLEGAL)—also laid out this December-January window was the “quickest” possible scenario and that a later decision not to hear the case by early 2027 means that any potential ruling or decision may not come until 2028 or later.​

Until then, we will all chirp about it like birds on Red Bull, Kalshi will keep setting new volume records and reaping profits, and some politicians who know nothing about prediction markets will rail against them. In contrast, others who know about them may try to play the system and profit.​

One thing we see in prediction markets is that most of the shady shit happens in the War, Politics, and some Culture and Weather markets, and that Sports is simply people and teams playing games and arriving at a final score, almost always fair and square. This is where most of the money lives.​

Demonizing the Sports sector of the prediction market landscape because of the nefarious actions seen in other categories is shallow. Yes, sports contracts should be regulated and taxed like sports bets in each state, like traditional sportsbooks. But at least Sports are fair?​

League Phase play in the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League resumes this week with a great match between La Liga giants Barcelona and French Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain from Parc des Princes (Hybrid Grass) in Paris, France on Tuesday (Paramount+, 3 EDT/2 CDT/12 PDT).​

Raphinha and Barcelona (1-0-0, 3 points) have been machine-like this summer and autumn, going unbeaten in league play (9-0-0) and other competitions (3-0-0), outscoring opponents 51-14 and winning an impressive 10 straight fixtures by 2 or more goals (August 23-present). That’s good.

The Paris Saint-Germain FC – FC Barcelona trade at Polymarket shows Lamine Yamal and Barcelona as small 41% favorites over host and two-time defending UCL champions Paris Saint-Germain (40%), with a Draw (Tie) trading at 21% on October 17 ($144,500 volume).

🌎Trading Thoughts: The defending champions strengthened an already powerful attack by signing Ferran Torres from Barcelona in August, and he got the No. 9 shirt and will be reunited with his old manager, Luis Enrique, in the City of Lights.

On paper, this may make it seem like the Catalans have less firepower. Still, nothing could be farther from the truth with guys like Yamal, Raphinha, Fermín López, Anthony Gordon, Pedri, Gabriel Jesus, and Rodri, and a strong defense that had allowed just 5 goals in its last 4 matches.

Head-to-head in the last 5 meetings, PSG has held the upper hand, going 3-1-1 and winning almost a year ago in UCL League Play in Spain (2-1) after ousting Barça in the 2024 UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals (6-4 aggregate). The Road team has been the best choice here (4-1-0).

⚽2026 UCL League Phase Match Props Pick: Both Teams To Score, Yes, 80¢

English Premier League heavyweights Arsenal and German Bundesliga titans Bayern Munich will meet in UEFA Champions League Phase play at Allianz Arena (Hybrid Grass) in Munich, Germany on Wednesday (Paramount+, 3 EDT/2 CDT/1 MDT/12 PDT).

Bayern Munich (1-0-0, 3 points) started October off with a frustrating tie at FC Augsburg (2-2) despite having 70% of the time of possession, while Arsenal (1-0-0, 3 points) started the new month out by edging Leeds (2-1) after suffering a rare loss to Brighton & Hove Albion (3-0).

At Polymarket in the FC Bayern München – Arsenal FC exchange, traders have GK Manuel Neuer and Bayern Munich as solid 46% favorites over Arsenal (31%), with a Draw (Tie) trading at 25% on October 17 ($12,050 trading volume). The Total (Goals) was Over 2.5 at Yes 61¢, No 41¢.

🌎Trading Thoughts: The Gunners have done well vs. the Bavarians in the last 5 meetings, going 2-2-1 (W-D-L) and winning the last meeting, a similar 2025-26 UCL League Phase match almost a year ago (November 26, 2025) in London, 3-1. The Both Teams To Score (BTTS) ‘Yes’ went 4-1.

Playmaker Michael Olise leads Bayern and will look to score through Harry Kane, and they'll look to the crowd for energy, but this is just a League Phase match and not as important as future games for both. Martin Ødegaard and Arsenal rely on D and will look to score first, then settle in.

Both teams seem far from great form, as Bayern’s draw with Augsburg and Arsenal’s loss to BHA show. This is a huge matchup on paper (and devices) and on screens, but domestic league play still seems more important to these two soccer heavyweights here in mid-October of 2026.

⚽2026 UCL League Phase Match Props Pick: Both Teams To Score, Yes, 63¢

➠”In the next edition of The Prediction Report, we will look at the S&P survey showing Sports is still the engine that drives prediction markets, Kalshi offering insurance for player props in the NFL, how many times President Trump will be impeached, whether there will be a US National Bitcoin Reserve before 2027, and have a preview of the NCAAF #7 Ole Miss-#16 Texas and the Saints-Steelers in the NFL Paris Game.”