The Dallas Mavericks are on the verge of winning the Western Conference Finals over the Minnesota Timberwolves, potentially advancing to the NBA Finals for a likely matchup against the Boston Celtics. If that happens, one lucky sports bettor will have the ticket of a lifetime.
Dallas has faced some long odds to even reach this point. Back in April, the Mavericks had the sixth-highest NBA Finals odds, behind teams like the Los Angeles Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks. There were still questions about whether or not there was enough talent around Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving to make a deep run in the NBA playoffs.
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The Mavericks opened things up in an early hole, losing 109-97 to the Clippers in Game 1 of the first round. However, even with Doncic limited by injuries, he and Irving rallied the Mavericks to win four of the next five games and take the series.
In the Western Conference Semifinals, Dallas lost the series opener to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Once again, however, Jason Kidd’s team roared back and won the series by taking four of the next five games. Yet, Dallas entered the Western Conference Finals as the underdog to the Timberwolves.
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Thanks to Doncic, who has scored 30-plus points in consecutive games, the Mavericks stole both games in Minnesota and now head back to Dallas with a 2-0 series lead. As they get closer to the NBA Finals, one bettor has a lot at stake.
As revealed by Covers, an unnamed bettor placed a $50 three-leg parlay bet on Dec. 29, 2023 with a max payout of $98,750. It was a massive longshot at the time, with odds of +197,5000, making it wildly unlikely to come to fruition.
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The first leg, carrying +1800 odds, had the Kansas City Chiefs defeating the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 58. While it required a game-winning touchdown in overtime, one of the best NFL dynasties ever came through for the bettor.
The ticket also had the Michigan Wolverines winning the 2024 national championship. While this wasn’t an upset pick by any means, the Wolverines’ odds were still +550 at the time. However, the second long shot was the Mavericks to be the Western Conference winner (+1500).
Heading into Sunday night’s Timberwolves vs Mavericks, game there was debate on social media about whether or not the person who made the bet should cash out early if they were allowed to. Theoretically, Minnesota could have stormed back to win the Western Conference Finals.
Entering 2024, seven teams in NBA history had come back from a 2-0 deficit to win the conference finals with it last happening in 2019. However, considering the Mavericks were hosting Games 3 and 4, it made little sense to cash out early. Following the Mavericks’ win, Game 4 could be paying out nearly $100,000 to this fan.
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Doncic, Irving and the Mavericks now have our chances to win one game and if they do that, a single $50 three-leg parlay will turn into $98,750. While there have been far bigger payouts, for those who bet tens of thousands of dollars, it’s fun to see that a parlay bet the average fan could make is on the verge of becoming life-changing money.