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Betting Breakdown: The Wizards didn’t win a game in November
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Every November men across the world participate in a challenge to grow a moustache in honour of men’s health.
The Movember movement began in 2003 when two friends from Melbourne, Australia, Travis Garone and Luke Slattery, decided to grow mustaches to raise awareness and funds for men's health.
Twenty-one years later, it’s one of the biggest staples on the calendar, and has raised more than $700 million to fund over 1,250 men’s health projects.
But while Movember continued to raise money for a good cause last month, there was another challenge taking place for men and women to participate in and make some money of their own.
No Win November.
While it was two friends in Australia that started Movember, it was 15 basketball players on the Washington Wizards leading this charge.
The Wizards played 14 games in November; they lost all of them.
This marks the second time this team has gone winless in a month over the last calendar year (Feb. 2024) and is just the 16th time in league history a team has “accomplished” this feat.
With Washington back in action as sizeable underdogs against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night to open their December schedule, it feels like a good chance to look back on November and dive into how much money you bettors could have won and lost on this team during their 14-game losing streak.
Betting Breakdown: The Wizards didn’t win a game in November
| Opponent | odds | $10 pays (profit) | Roll over |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heat | -500 | $2 | x |
| Warriors | -600 | $1.67 | $14 |
| Grizzlies | -300 | $3.33 | $18.67 |
| Magic | -650 | $1.54 | $21.54 |
| Rockets | -700 | $1.43 | $24.62 |
| Spurs | -450 | $2.22 | $30.09 |
| Hawks | -450 | $2.22 | $36.78 |
| Pistons | -210 | $4.76 | $54.29 |
| Knicks | -1100 | $0.91 | $59.23 |
| Celtics | -1600 | $0.63 | $62.93 |
| Pacers | -750 | $1.33 | $71.32 |
| Bulls | -210 | $4.76 | $105.28 |
| Clippers | -400 | $2.50 | $131.60 |
| Bucks | -1100 | $0.91 | $143.56 |
No Win November
Starting with some easy math, If you picked November to blindly bet the Wizards it wasn’t your lucky month.
A $10 bettor would have lost $140 betting them to win every game in the month.
The story isn’t much different against the spread, with Washington going 3-10-1 in November.
A $10 bet on Washington to cover in all 14 games would have led to losing $72.73.
Fading the Wizards
Starting with the Miami Heat -500 on the moneyline on Nov. 2 and ending with the Milwaukee Bucks -1100 on Nov. 30, someone who placed $10 fading the Wizards all November would’ve tripled their initial investment ending the month with $30 of profit.
The Wizards were underdogs in all 14 games with only two games (Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls) closing as favourites longer than -400 both coming in at -250.
The Boston Celtics were the shortest priced favourite during this stretch, closing at -1600 while the New York Knicks and Bucks were the other two teams at shorter than -1000 closing at -1100.
Fading the Wizards in all 14 games against the spread would have been more profitable coming in at $60.90 of profit.
Rolling over the winnings
While a $10 bettor would have made $30 of profit fading the Wizards in every game, there was more money to be had if you rolled over the winnings from each game in November.
Starting with $10 in the opening game of the month against Miami, if you rolled over the winnings and initial stake in all 14 games you would have ended the month with $143.56.
With the Cavaliers -1600 to win Tuesday night, a $143.56 bet on the moneyline would pay $152.53 for another $8.97 of profit.