Jordan Poole is a popular long-shot bet to lead NBA in scoring

Everything is magnified when an NBA player plays under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden — even in the preseason. On Wednesday night, Washington Wizards guard Jordan Poole scored an impressive 41 points on 10-of-19 shooting in a 131-106 Wizards win over the New York Knicks.

Poole is already a fascinating player this NBA season after being jettisoned from the Golden State Warriors — despite Draymond Green being the player who punched Poole — and heading to a Wizards team where he’ll be the No. 1 option, since Bradley Beal is now on the Phoenix Suns.

Wednesday night’s scoring outburst also amplified action in the sports betting markets, which had already seen a flurry of betting on Poole in a vary of markets, most notably to lead the league in scoring.

At BetMGM sportsbooks, Poole opened with 100-1 odds to lead the NBA in PPG scoring, and has been bet down to 40-1 odds. He is now No. 1 in tickets and tops in liability for the sportsbook in that market. Joel Embiid (+300) and Luka Doncic (+350) were the favorites to win the award.

“We have taken non-stop bets on Jordan Poole as the regular-season scoring leader,” Christian Cipollini, trading manager at BetMGM, told me on Thursday. “His true odds probably shouldn’t be 40-1, but there’s too much liability built up to have him higher.”

PointsBet doesn’t have that market, but told me that Poole was tops in tickets and No. 2 in handle for Most Improved Player, with his odds going from 20-1 in early October to 10-1.

At DraftKings Sportsbook, Poole was No. 1 in total bets to lead the league in scoring as well, with 20 percent of the overall wagers. Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had the most total dollars wagered (43 percent) for the award at DraftKings.