Before the NBA Playoffs started, the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder were favored to make the NBA Finals and nothing has changed on that front. Both teams cruised through the first round and are the clear favorites to get to the Finals.
Ahead of Monday’s series opener between the Thunder and Denver Nuggets, the Thunder are the betting favorite to win the franchise’s first NBA championship. The Thunder are +135 to win it all and a commanding -220 to make it to the Finals. The Celtics, partially buoyed by Cleveland’s Game 1 home loss to Indiana on Sunday, are -155 to win the Eastern Conference and +195 to claim the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
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Cleveland was tighter to those top favorites entering the playoffs, but is a chunk behind now at +600. The Cavs blew away Miami in a four-game sweep in the first round, but Sunday’s loss without Darius Garland put some doubt into Cleveland’s status. Garland’s return date is unclear. He has been out since getting hurt in Game 2 against Miami on April 23. Even with the 1-0 series deficit, the Cavs are still favored (-210) to get past the Pacers.
2025 NBA champion odds
After Cleveland, the other five teams are all long shots to win the title. Minnesota is fourth in the odds at +1600. The Timberwolves, the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference, pulled off an upset by taking out the Los Angeles Lakers in just five games. Minnesota gets home-court in Round 2 after the Golden State Warriors knocked out Houston in Game 7 on Sunday.
The Warriors have been playing better and received more love in futures odds since the Jimmy Butler trade, but are still underdogs against Minnesota. The Timberwolves are -180 to win that series while Golden State is +150. Anthony Edwards vs. Stephen Curry is high-quality NBA theater, even if neither team is viewed as a primary contender to win it all.
The Pacers and Nuggets are next at +3500 to win the title. Denver got by the LA Clippers in the first round, but it took seven games, and confidence in the Nuggets is not as high after Mike Malone’s firing on April 8 showed upheaval in the organization. Even with Nikola Jokić leading the way and championship-winning experience for this core, Denver is +550 to get by Oklahoma City.
New York Knicks fans are surely excited to see their team win a playoff series for the third year in a row, but the Knicks are the longest of long shots ahead of their series against the Celtics. The Knicks are +6000 to win it all. The series against Detroit in the first round was tough, and Boston is the defending champion. Regardless of what happens next, the Knicks have made the second round for three years in a row, which hasn’t happened since the Patrick Ewing-era Knicks did that for nine straight years from 1992-2000.
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As for Finals MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the favorite at +140. Jayson Tatum is next at +260 with Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell at +800. There’s nothing complicated or surprising about this list. SGA could win the NBA MVP and is clearly the best player on the team that is currently favored to win the title. With Tatum, there’s at least a chance Jaylen Brown could get hot and win Finals MVP, but otherwise, these odds mostly mimic their teams’ title odds.
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(Photo of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: Justin Ford / Getty Images)
