NBA favourites have gone 30-5 against the spread since Saturday night, good for an 86 per cent win rate.

That number is almost unheard of.

Prior to this remarkable run, favourites had gone 378-399-12 (48.6 per cent) against the spread on the season.

It might have been a clean sweep for the favourites on Wednesday night if it weren’t for two teams that made big moves ahead of the NBA trade deadline.

Domantas Sabonis and Jeremy Lamb helped the Sacramento Kings secure a comeback victory in their debut against the Minnesota Timberwolves, while Justise Winslow gave the Portland Trail Blazers some key minutes to hold off the Los Angeles Lakers.

For whatever reason over the past five days, the margins have been extreme. 

Only five of the 35 games since Saturday have closed within one possession or gone to overtime.

An unusually high volume of bench units have dribbled out the clock.

Trade deadline hanging over sellers

Portland got things rolling on Friday, shipping off Norman Powell and Robert Covington to the L.A. Clippers in exchange for Eric Bledsoe, Winslow, Keon Johnson and a 2025 second-round pick.

From that point on, the rumour mill started to heat up, corresponding with this five-day run by the favourites.

The Pacers, Kings, Lakers, Knicks, Pistons and Rockets are six teams with key players featured in trade rumours. One can assume that type of uncertainty can be distracting.

Those six teams combined for a 2-12 record ATS since the C.J. McCollum trade.

Line movement not enough

Portland, Indiana, and Sacramento all played games on the same day their trades were announced, and the lines shifted as one would expect.

On Tuesday, Portland opened as -3.5 favourites against the Magic. Then in the afternoon, McCollum, Larry Nance Jr., and Tony Snell were shipped out of town.

The line moved five points to Portland +1.5 and it wasn’t even close. Orlando blew them out by 18 points.

Indiana and Sacramento pulled off their blockbuster trade on Tuesday as well.

The Pacers opened as six-point underdogs and closed at +13 ahead of tip-off. The Hawks punished their short-handed squad, winning by 21 points.

The Kings went from +3 to +8 against the Timberwolves, and they got blown out by 20 points.

Exploiting the trend

If we’re to draw up conclusions from this tiny sample size, the lines don’t adjust enough. When stars get shipped out of town, the replacement players haven’t stepped up.

So far there haven’t been any newsworthy trades ahead of today’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline, but several potential sellers are on the Thursday night slate.

Don’t be surprised to see those lines swing heavily in their opponent’s favourite if any deals get made.