Auburn Tigers' Jabari Smith favored to be No. 1 pick in heavily bet NBA draft

Jabari Smith Jr. is the consensus favorite to be the No. 1 pick, but odds at sportsbooks have been moving on what bookmakers say has become the most heavily bet NBA draft ever.

Smith, a versatile, 6-foot-10 forward out of Auburn, remains the odds-on favorite to be the No. 1 pick in Thursday's draft (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC). Since Monday, his odds have improved from -145 to -280 at Caesars Sportsbook. Smith's odds also have been improving at DraftKings, where he was sitting at -275 on Wednesday. The Orlando Magic own the first pick, barring a trade.

Duke's Paolo Banchero has the second-best odds of going No. 1 and also has seen increased betting interest this week. Banchero, who was 10-1 on Sunday, is listed at +280 on Wednesday at Caesars Sportsbook, ahead of Gonzaga's Chet Holmgren (+500), whose odds have been fading. Holmgren's odds were as short as +145 earlier this week. Smith, Banchero and Holmgren are the only players with single-digit odds to be the No. 1 pick.

The varying prices and odds movement have attracted heavy betting interest, especially from professional bettors. At Caesars Sportsbook, the odds to the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft have attracted five times as much money has was bet on the odds to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, according to Eric Fenstermaker, senior trading manager for Caesars Sportsbook.

«It's the weirdest draft market I think I've ever booked,» Fenstermaker, a veteran Nevada bookmaker, told ESPN on Wednesday. «Usually, at this point, there's clear-cut news on who's going to be No. 1. But now we've got three guys who have each steamed [attracted money from professional bettors] at different times to be the first pick.»

Fenstermaker said a group of sharp bettors «who always beat us on