I_PREDICT_SPORT

NBA Slate

Our win probability next to the Kalshi price · opening night Tue Oct 20 · built Oct 4, 9:58 PM ET · schedule as of Oct 4, 9:58 PM ET

What the number is, and how good it is. The win % is a point-in-time team Elo in FiveThirtyEight's NBA construction, built from every game since 2002-03: K=20, home court 50 Elo, a 50-Elo penalty for the second night of a back-to-back, playoff gaps x1.25, updated by margin of victory, and 40% of each rating regressed to the mean every preseason. Constants were fitted on 2010-2024 only. It knows nothing about injuries, trades or lineups. Scored against the Kalshi price six hours before tip on every 2025-26 game Kalshi listed (and the 2025 playoffs), it runs behind: -7.6 mB [-11.8, -3.3], n=1402 on all games, -7.2 mB [-12.8, -1.6], n=931 on the competitive (25-75%) games (positive = better than the market; Brier 208.1 vs 200.5 mB; picks the winner 67.8% vs the market's 67.5%). On the unseen 2025 and 2026 seasons it is calibrated (Brier 0.2087, n=2643). This is not an edge claim. The model on this page scores behind the price, by the margin stated above, and nothing here sizes a bet.

Opening night Tue Oct 20 3 games

Tue Oct 20 · 3:00 PM ETLittle Caesars Arena
IPSKalshi
BOS0-042%47%
DET0-058%53%
Spread—
Total—
Our marginDET +2.0
Tue Oct 20 · 7:00 PM ETMadison Square Garden
IPSKalshi
PHI0-025%37%
NY0-075%63%
Spread—
Total—
Our marginNY +6.8
Tue Oct 20 · 9:30 PM ETFrost Bank Center
IPSKalshi
OKC0-041%44%
SA0-059%56%
Spread—
Total—
Our marginSA +2.2

"Kalshi" is the latest observed bid/ask mid, de-vigged across the two legs where both are quoted, and links to the market; the scored benchmark above is the T-6h mid, not this. Spread and Total are the Kalshi strikes priced nearest 50¢ (the market's own line) with that strike's price, shown once Kalshi opens those ladders. Records are this regular season's, before tip. Preseason ratings carry 40% regression to the mean.

Pick'em sheet

#GameOur pickConfidenceMarket pick
1PHI @ NYNY50NY
2OKC @ SASA18SA
3BOS @ DETDET16DET

Confidence is how far our win % sits from a coin flip, scaled 0-100 (|p − 50%| × 2). Market pick is the side the Kalshi book favours now.

Power ratings

#TeamElo
1NY1673
2SA1657
3OKC1644
4DET1586
5BOS1581
6CHA1580
7DEN1579
8CLE1564
9HOU1561
10LAL1560
11MIN1554
12ORL1543
13TOR1537
14PHI1533
15ATL1526
16PHX1525
17POR1522
18LAC1520
19MIA1516
20GS1463
21NO1447
22DAL1419
23CHI1409
24MIL1409
25IND1404
26SAC1399
27UTAH1379
28MEM1368
29BKN1359
30WSH1334

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