The 2025-26 NBA season gets started this Tuesday night, and the big question is if the Oklahoma City Thunder can end this 7-year drought without a repeat champion? Repeating was once common in the NBA, and these Thunder have some of the best NBA Finals odds to repeat since the Golden State Warriors last did so in 2018.
Let’s look at the current NBA Finals odds for the 2025-26 season from Bovada along with some of the best futures bets to make before opening tip-off.
Live NBA Finals Odds
At Bookmakers Review, you can always view the latest NBA Finals odds for the 2025-26 season. The table shows each team’s opening odds, which is where things stood before the season started.
The higher the number, the bigger longshot the team is to win the championship. So, teams with +50000 odds like Portland, Charlotte, and Brooklyn have virtually no realistic shot to win the championship this year. The longest known preseason odds for an NBA champion is +2800 by the 2014-15 Warriors.
But the Pacers last year were +6600 before the season and made it to Game 7 of the NBA Finals, so there can be value in taking a longshot. Just don’t go crazy with the odds.
Teams with smaller odds (+225 to +1600) are much more likely to win the championship this year. You can view the odds from various offshore sportsbooks in the table, making it easy to find the one offering the best price for the team you want to bet on.
NBA Finals 2025-26 Best Bets
Like we said above, you want to focus on a team with a track record of success that’s +2800 or better to win the NBA Finals at the start of the season. That doesn’t leave many contenders to pick from, but that’s just the reality of the NBA. Find a team with a solid coach, a Big 3 (or deeper) roster, and a Hall of Fame-caliber leading player. That’s the team likely to win it all.
Let’s look at some of the best bets available before the 2025-26 NBA season starts, including those favorites from OKC.
Oklahoma City Thunder (+210)
The Thunder are a strong favorite to repeat as they re-signed their young core to record deals, and they are not a one-year wonder. This team already won the Western Conference No. 1 seed in each of the last 2 years, and their style of dominating turnovers is sustainable because of their youthful energy and pressure on the ball. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is also at his peak and seemingly gets better every year after winning MVP and Finals MVP last season.
Jalen Williams is only in his 4th season and looked like a superstar in the making in the postseason. Coch Mark Daigneault has built something special, and the team brought back a lot of glue guys like Alex Caruso and Luguentz Dort.
The Thunder will be a tough out in the postseason. They are a good bet at these odds, though you may find a better price down the line, as it is a long season.
Denver Nuggets (+625)
The team most likely to beat Oklahoma City may be the one that nearly beat them in the semifinals. The Nuggets were one quarter away from taking a 3-1 lead before a disastrous finish to that game, then they were eventually blown out in Game 7.
But when you have the best player in the world in Nikola Jokic, who could have won the last 5 MVP awards, anything is possible. The Nuggets have cut some dead weight on the roster like Russell Westbrook and Michael Porter Jr. while bringing back Bruce Brown from their 2023 championship squad. Guard Christian Braun also showed big improvement in his 3rd year, and Aaron Gordon will hopefully be healthier in the playoffs this time.
The Nuggets are a solid choice at these odds as they have the experienced playoff core that can handle a team like the Thunder as well as anyone else in the West. Jokic is also poised for another MVP-caliber year.
Cleveland Cavaliers (+725)
In the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers finished with the No .1 seed last year (64-18) but lost in the semifinals to some wild comebacks by the Indiana Pacers. They likely won’t have to worry about a repeat of that due to the Achilles injury Tyrese Haliburton suffered in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. He is out for the season.
The same goes for Jayson Tatum in Boston, clearing a path for another No. 1 seed by the Cavaliers, who are led by an elite scorer in Donovan Mitchell and some great big men defenders (Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen).
But Mitchell has never advanced past the semifinals, so if he can’t make it happen this year, it may just not be in the cards for him. The Cavaliers are not our favorite pick at these odds in the Eastern Conference, but they are a team to keep an eye on given their recent success and strong balance (No. 1 in Offensive Rating, No. 8 in Defensive Rating last year).
New York Knicks (+1100)
The New York Knicks were finally back in the Eastern Conference Finals after winning 51 games. But even that wasn’t enough for Tom Thibodeau to keep his job as head coach. After losing to the Pacers in stunning fashion, he was replaced by Mike Brown, who will try to win his first championship in his 12th season as a head coach.
Like Cleveland, New York can expect Indiana and Boston to take a step back, possibly setting them up on a collision course unless Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks have something to say about that.
But the Knicks are great value at these odds as Jalen Brunson is an incredible playoff performer, and Karl-Anthony Towns showed some big improvement in the playoffs to help the Knicks to their best year in decades. They have a strong offensive core and addressed their depth issues.
The Knicks may not match up well with OKC in the Finals should it get that far, but they are a good pick to at least get to the NBA Finals this year.
Make Your NBA Bets at Offshore Sportsbooks
The start of the season is a great time to make NBA bets at offshore sportsbooks like Bovada. You could bet on the Thunder to repeat or take a chance on the New York Knicks to finally win the NBA Finals again. New users can take advantage of welcome offers to get bonus bets to bet on NBA markets this week like spreads, totals, and player props.
Timing is everything in sports betting, so for futures markets like NBA Finals odds, it’s good to get in some bets early in the season before the lines start moving significantly.
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
