NBA Championship Odds: Futures Market for 2025

The 2025 NBA playoffs are on the horizon, and BetMGM players are getting serious about the NBA odds market. 

For those looking for updated NBA information and analysis, I’ve included the up-to-date NBA championship odds market here. I’ve also included my own opinions on market entry points and popular prices, referencing public betting patterns and internal ticket splits from BetMGM. 

Odds to Win NBA Championship 2025

NBA Championship Prediction: Who Will Win the Finals This Year?

Based on the current futures market, the Oklahoma City Thunder have an implied 36.4% chance to win the 2025 NBA championship.

NBA Championship Odds: Thunder Ascend as Favorites After Dominant Regular Season

While there are obviously several contenders in the hunt for the 2025 NBA championship, no team looks the part quite like Oklahoma City. 

General manager Sam Presti has slowly rebuilt the post-Russell Westbrook Thunder with mountains of draft capital, assembling one of the deepest teams in the league with huge athletic talent and defensive prowess.

OKC has the likely MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and leads the league in assist-to-turnover ratio. The Thunder are also No. 1 in average score margin (+12.7), fastbreak defense (12.1 opp. ppg), paint defense (41.7 opp. ppg), and several other categories.

The Thunder have been considered spiritual co-favorites with the reigning champion Boston Celtics for a large portion of the season. As the calendar turns to April, BetMGM is even showing some separation in the NBA futures market, with the Thunder now priced at +175. Boston is +190.

But as good as the Thunder are, they’ve remained a relatively unpopular choice with BetMGM players. As of April 1, Oklahoma City is only the No. 5 most popular championship bet, trailing a few more public franchises. 

By comparison, the Los Angeles Lakers and Celtics are responsible for more than one-quarter of all championship bets. The Celtics drew heavy action early as a favorite to repeat, while the Lakers have taken massive volume at BetMGM since Dallas traded Luka Dončić.

Oklahoma City is also less popular than Cleveland, which has mounted two long winning streaks this season, and Denver, which could recapture its championship form from 2023.

OKC’s 9.4% ticket share is likely a result of the short return and comparatively small market size. A Thunder championship would actually be a great result for the sportsbook; BetMGM’s largest liabilities in the futures book are the Lakers, Warriors, and Pistons.

NBA Finals Odds: Lakers, Warriors Charging After Trade Deadline

Few teams are as popular these days as LeBron James’ Lakers or Stephen Curry’s Warriors, so it probably won’t surprise you to learn that there’s a huge uptick in betting activity surrounding those two teams.

Both teams landed huge trades at the NBA trade deadline in February. The Warriors were the beneficiaries of Jimmy Butler’s unhappy ending in Miami, while the Lakers landed the Luka Dončić trade heard round the world.

The departure of Dončić from Dallas has been a boon for Lakers odds and a disaster for the Mavericks. Right before the trade, Dallas was 20-to-1 to win it all; now, with Dončić gone and Kyrie Irving done for the season, the Mavericks are suddenly dead in the water (+50000) to win the West.

Meanwhile, the Lakers have moved from +4000 before the trade, to +1400 right after, to +1200 as of March 28. BetMGM players can’t get enough of Los Angeles, with the Lake Show now accounting for 15.5% of tickets – the most of any team in the championship market. That includes title favorites like the Celtics and Thunder.

As for the Warriors, they’re climbing the table too. Golden State is now +1600 to win the championship and fourth in the Western Conference futures table at +750. About 6% of all championship bets are behind the Warriors, who suddenly look like a top-six seed capable of making a run at the title. 

Los Angeles is getting tons of deserved hype in the wake of the Dončić trade, but don’t sleep on Golden State. The Warriors are just as live, and the market will catch up soon enough.