While the Oklahoma City Thunder are still alive in the NBA Finals, the same can’t be said of the extremely large bet that Jay-Z placed on the Thunder prior to their series against the Indiana Pacers.
Before the Finals began, Jay-Z placed a $1 million wager on the Thunder to win the title in exactly five games at +230 odds using Fanatics Sportsbook. Had OKC indeed won the series in five, it would have yielded a whopping $3.3 million for the famous rapper. Instead, Jay-Z has now officially lost the bet after the Pacers recorded a 116-107 win in Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead.
With a net worth of $2.5 billion, Jay-Z probably isn’t losing sleep over losing the bet. That being said, it’s safe to say that he isn’t thrilled with Wednesday night’s outcome and the media coverage that comes with losing that much on a bet.
The Thunder entered the series as significant favorites — something that didn’t change even after blowing a huge lead in a Game 1 loss. OKC then rebounded with a convincing Game 2 victory, so Jay-Z’s bet was looking pretty good entering Wednesday night’s contest in Indianapolis. And through three quarters, the visiting Thunder had an 89-84 lead. But they lost the game after being outscored 32-18 in the fourth quarter.
Indiana’s win can largely be attributed to its bench (who out-scored the Thunder’s bench 49-18) and its 17 forced turnovers. Specifically, the Pacers did a good job getting the ball away from league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who committed a game-high six turnovers.
Now down 2-1, the Thunder, who won 68 regular-season games to earn the West’s No. 1 seed, are still the favorites to win the title. At DraftKings, for example, the Thunder are -230 favorites. The Pacers are listed at +190.
While they’d clearly prefer not to be in this situation, the Thunder have been here before. In the second round, they trailed the Nuggets 2-1 after losing Game 3 on the road. They then rallied to win three of the series’ remaining four games.
Oklahoma City will now look to make a similar comeback in the Finals, starting with Game 4 on Friday night.
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