NBA Championship Odds: Futures Market for 2025

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 29: Jalen Williams #8 of the Oklahoma City Thunder drives to the basket during the game against the Los Angeles Lakersduring a Emirates NBA Cup game on October 22, 2024 at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California.
(Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)
  • Oklahoma City (+175) has become the title favorite this season.
  • Boston (+190) is favored to win the East again.
  • The Lakers are an incredibly popular ticket since trading for Luka Donฤiฤ‡.

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

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

Odds to Win NBA Championship 2025

TeamCurrent OddsOpening Odds
Oklahoma City Thunder+175+1000
Boston Celtics+190+300
Cleveland Cavaliers+500+4000
Los Angeles Lakers+1400+3500
Denver Nuggets+1400+750
Golden State Warriors+1600+3000
New York Knicks+3500+1600
Los Angeles Clippers+5000+2500
Minnesota Timberwolves+6600+1000
Memphis Grizzlies+10000+4000
Indiana Pacers+12500+5000
Houston Rockets+15000+12500
Milwaukee Bucks+20000+1000
Detroit Pistons+25000+100000
Phoenix Suns+100000+2500
Sacramento Kings+100000+5000
Orlando Magic+100000+6600
Miami Heat+100000+3500
Atlanta Hawks+100000+10000
Chicago Bulls+100000+25000
Dallas Mavericks+200000+900
San Antonio Spurs+200000+12500
Portland Trail Blazers+200000+100000

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.ย 

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, theyโ€™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.ย 

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 Donฤiฤ‡.

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.

OKCโ€™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; BetMGMโ€™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 Jamesโ€™ Lakers or Stephen Curryโ€™s Warriors, so it probably wonโ€™t surprise you to learn that thereโ€™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 Butlerโ€™s unhappy ending in Miami, while the Lakers landed the Luka Donฤiฤ‡ trade heard round the world.

The departure of Donฤiฤ‡ 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 Donฤiฤ‡ 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 canโ€™t get enough of Los Angeles, with the Lake Show now accounting for 15.5% of tickets โ€“ the most of any team in the championship market. That includes title favorites like the Celtics and Thunder.

As for the Warriors, theyโ€™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.ย 

Los Angeles is getting tons of deserved hype in the wake of the Donฤiฤ‡ trade, but donโ€™t sleep on Golden State. The Warriors are just as live, and the market will catch up soon enough.

Visit the online sportsbook today for updated NBA odds. From the preseason through the NBA Finals, there are thousands of opportunities to build parlays, bet on over/under totals, and place live bets on basketball odds.

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About the Author

Chase Kiddy

Read More @chaseakiddy

Chase Kiddy is a writer for BetMGM and co-host of The Lion's Edge, an NFL and college football podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere else. He has also written for a number of print and online outlets, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Washington Post, Daily News-Record, and HERO Sports. His first novel, Cave Paintings, is in development.

Chase Kiddy is a writer for BetMGM and co-host of The Lion's Edge, an NFL and college football podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere else. He has also written for a number of print and online outlets, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Washington Post, Daily News-Record, and HERO Sports. His first novel, Cave Paintings, is in development.