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Bronny James scores the Lakers' opening goal and is one of the most popular of all time

Bronny James scores the Lakers' opening goal and is one of the most popular of all time

The NBA odds team at Caesars Sportsbook wanted to keep it simple: Bronny James over/under 0.5 points in Tuesday's opening game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves.

Not only did it become the most popular NBA player prop of the night, but it also became one of the most popular sports betting props ever.

“We had two-way action all day,” David Lieberman, who oversees NBA odds for the Caesars, told ESPN. “It reminded me a little bit of how popular the Caitlin Clark props were in the WNBA this year.”

According to FanDuel, prop bets on Bronny James received more betting interest than prop bets on Anthony Edwards, Anthony Davis and LeBron James, Bronny's father. For Bronny, the bets were mostly small, but bookies said there were four to five figure bets on his props.

“We opened it at 0.5 just to keep it simple. Will he basically score,” Lieberman said. “The bets were actually pretty evenly split between over and under; There were probably more tickets for the over, but money was tight.”

Jake Bensimon, a sports bettor in Maryland, said he placed a $2,500 bet on Bronny to score more than 1.5 points at odds of -135 on FanDuel. He shared a screenshot of his bet with ESPN and said it was the first NBA prop bet he ever made.

“(It's) strictly a bet that Lebron will make a bucket for his son,” Bensimon wrote in a direct message

Bronny went 0-2 from the field as he missed an open 3-pointer and a putback of an offensive rebound in three minutes of play.

Some major sportsbooks waited until a few hours before Tuesday's game to place extra bets on Bronny and didn't attract much action. ESPN BET has decided not to put up any Bronny props. However, Caesars Sportsbook said it will continue to place prop bets on Bronny this season.

“It's going to be an interesting story and an interesting year, and it's a market that bettors clearly want,” Lieberman said.

The Lakers host the Phoenix Suns on Friday (10 p.m. ET, ESPN). ESPN BET, among other Like Father, Like Son odds, is offering +175 odds on both Bronny and LeBron making a 3-pointer against the Suns.

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