Roasted, toasted, burnt to a crisp — the Knicks weren’t the only winners during the NBA playoffs: their believers cashed in huge.

Multiple sportsbooks reported massive losses on the NBA Finals, including a $48.5 million loss across New York state just during Games 3 to 5 alone.

When the Knicks were priced as +230 underdogs to the Spurs and +240 underdogs to the Thunder, The Post told DraftKings head trader Johnny Avello that the odds were a bit disrespectful and they needed to reevaluate who was favored in this series.

“We’re not disrespecting the Knicks,” Avello told The Post on May 28 when the Spurs officially became the opponent.

DraftKings now has changed their tune after a “not good” result for them in the finals, but they still wouldn’t change the odds if the finals was starting around now.

“Knicks had a pretty incredible run, the Spurs had their chances, they were leading by double digits in almost every game. The Spurs weren’t the best team out of the rest, but their power rating was certainly higher than the Knicks’,” Avello said to The Post. “If the series were to start now, I don’t think the numbers would change much. I think the Spurs would still be favored.”

Just in New York state, $587.6 million was bet on the week ending on June 14, one of the highest in state history.

DraftKings posted a $14-plus million loss on $195.6 million handle, and Avello told The Post that it wasn’t just taking a hit in the Empire State.

“Overall it was not good. The bettors were on the right side. But no regrets. We want to play to the ratings and the model. When you look back the Spurs were winning every game. one by 29 and lost it,
Avello added. “Double digits and lost it. They pretty much choked at times when they shouldn’t have. It’s most inexperience. Guys came in from other teams with experience. I think that was the difference. I think we posted the right number.”

Avello did add that the number that they posted was not ideal in the state of New York and even floated the idea of changing the numbers based on state locations as a result.

Sports betting operators in New York had previously posted 231 consecutive weeks of profit.

“In the New York area, this was not the right number for betting. We took a hit on a lot of the games and the futures book. The futures were certainly a loss. We paid out the bettors for the Knicks. On the games themselves, they were a loser too. We won maybe one of the five games,” Avello admitted.

The Knicks opened as second favorites to win the Eastern Conference, with the Celtics previously on top before they traded Jaylen Brown and the odds have corrected, with the reigning champions coming in at +320 to win the conference and +850 to repeat as Champions.

Betting on the NBA?

Those are rather lofty odds all things considered, as the Knicks sit well behind the Thunder and Spurs, who are +270 favorites.

“The Knicks are taking some money, but after the season ends, we mostly get hit on trades and signings, etc,” Avello said.” Not to mention the draft. All those factors move some things around. For the next month or so, this will take a backseat with the NFL coming up.”

Why Trust New York Post Betting

Erich Richter is a brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt but he has a black belt in MMA betting. During the football season he’s showcased massive profits at The Post in the player prop market the last two seasons. While constantly betting long shots, his return on investment is 30.15 percent since 2022.