NBA 2024-25 Championship Winner Betting Preview – Odds, Tips & Predictions

The end of the NBA regular season is nigh, and the closer that we get to the playoffs the more the Thunder and the Celtics have shortened as Championship favourites. They have now come right in to around $3 or even less with some betting sites, with the Cavaliers sitting comfortably in third a long way ahead of the chasing pack. A Thunder vs Celtics NBA Finals series is certainly looking likely, but there are plenty of good teams led by unbelievable players lurking at their heels, so that matchup is far from a foregone conclusion. Below, we take a look at the chances of all the teams still in the championship hunt.

Oklahoma City Thunder 

It’s official – the Thunder are the favourites to win the 2025 NBA championship. They have been neck and neck with the Celtics throughout the course of the season, generally sitting just behind the reigning champs. But they have continued to go from strength to strength, opening up an absurd lead atop the Western Conference standings, and are looking increasingly difficult to beat. The youth which probably counted against them last season and which many have still seen as a potential barrier to their success is looking less and less relevant, with the unflappability and remarkable consistency of MVP favourite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reflective of the roster in its entirety.

The long-term injury of Chet Holmgren during the middle stages of the season may well have proved to be a blessing in disguise, opening up an opportunity for Isaiah Hartenstein to feel his way into the starting lineup as the lone big man. With Holmgren now back, those two have created a formidable interior defence, complementing an already elite group of wing and guard defenders. At the other end of the floor they are not so bad either, sitting in fourth in the league in offensive rating, led capably, of course, by the league’s scoring leader in Gilgeous-Alexander. This team does not really have a single flaw, or a single even average player; they are all good, they all know their roles at both ends of the floor, and they have the MVP favourite leading the charge. They are, unfortunately, at painfully short odds, but they will be very hard to beat.

What brings them here? Trading Paul George for Gilgeous-Alexander and a huge number of draft picks has set the Thunder up for a long time, with Gilgeous-Alexander and some of those high draft picks beginning to turn into superstars.

What could hold them back? A lack of experience would probably be the main concern for the Thunder. They have plenty of talent and ability at both ends of the floor, but they are very, very young and really have just one season of playoff experience behind them.

Injury report. The Thunder have a few players missing games here and there – no surprises given they are around 12 games clear as the number one seed in the West – but nothing that will keep anyone out for long.

Bet on the Thunder to win the NBA Championship @ $2.80 with PlayUp

Boston Celtics

Though the Celtics have dropped a spot in this list, they have actually continued to come in ever so slightly as the season has worn on. And regardless of where they sit in the estimations of NBA betting sites, expect this team to enter the NBA playoffs quietly confident in their ability to flick a switch when they need to. The reigning champions are not going to earn the number one seed in the Eastern Conference – that honour will go to the Cavaliers – but with a handsome lead over third place, they will be finishing second. If results go the way of the seeds that will, of course, see them facing the Cavaliers without home court advantage, but while that’s far from ideal they will nonetheless be more than confident in their ability to win at least once away from home.

Like the Thunder, the Celtics are close to a flawless unit, with an extremely well-rounded roster boasting weapon after weapon at both ends of the floor. At the head of the snake is Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but they are ably supported by Derrick White, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, while Al Horford is still too good to be coming off the bench and Payton Pritchard is runaway favourite for Sixth Man of the Year. With Pritchard’s improvement and another year together under their belt, this team is even than they were last year when they waltzed their way to the championship. Like the Thunder they are very short, but even more so than their primary threat to the title, there is very good reason for that. Perhaps the primary reason for the Thunder snatching favouritism is that the Celtics will have to beat Cleveland and OKC to win it, both of those with four games away from home. That is no doubt a tough ask, but I wouldn’t be doubting this team for a second.

What brings them here? The Celtics have made numerous very savvy moves in recent years to complement the Tatum/Brown combo they have had for years, and the result is one of the most well-balanced teams we have seen in a long time.

What could hold them back? Not much. The Celtics have an extremely well-rounded team, are well-coached and now have championship experience. Not having home court advantage in potentially the Conference Finals or NBA Finals is one minor concern.

Injury report. Brown has missed a couple of recent games with a back injury, but it’s nothing that will keep him out for long.

Bet on the Celtics to win the NBA championship at $3.00 with PlayUp

Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavaliers started the season like a house on fire, and have by this point well and truly proved that their 15-0 start was no flash in the pan. In fact, they went ahead and bettered that 15-game winning streak in February and March, winning 16 on the trot to solidify their spot atop the Eastern Conference standings. They do not have a standout star like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Jayson Tatum, but Donovan Mitchell is still pretty damn good and they have a mighty good supporting cast – good enough, in fact, to give them the best offensive rating in the league by some margin.

Defensively they are top ten too, with the interior presence of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen the standout aspect at that end of the floor. They have gone from a first round exit in the playoffs two seasons ago to a second round exit last year, and could not have done more to set themselves up to go beyond that stage this season. In an Eastern Conference which lacks many standout teams, they will be fully expecting to make the Conference Finals given they won’t have to face either the Celtics or Knicks prior to that. They will remain underdogs against the other two teams until they beat them, but having split the season series with both of them, the Cavs will have full faith in their ability to compete in a seven-game series. Their odds look right on the money, pardon the pun – they’re clearly a level below the above two teams, but they are not without a chance.

What brings them here? The Cavaliers have been slowly building for a few years, though last season it seemed like Mitchell had had enough and was set to go elsewhere. He didn’t, and he would probably be pretty happy that he didn’t at the moment, because alongside Allen, Mobley and Garland, he’s now on a championship contender.

What could hold them back? Like a couple of other teams in this conversation, the Cavaliers will not have the best player in a lot of series if they are to go deep into the playoffs. They also don’t have much experience individually or as a collective deep in the playoffs.

Injury report. The Cavaliers are looking nice and healthy at the time of writing.

Bet on the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the NBA Championship at $6.50 with PlayUp

Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers are one of the more intriguing teams in the championship race, which is just how the NBA would like it. They were already having a solid season with their standard set-up based around LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but the shocking AD-Luka trade might just have given them an even better chance this season. One would have imagined that removing one of the best defensive players in the league for a generationally talented offensive player in Doncic – who, to put it mildly, does not have the defensive wherewithal of his predecessor – would have had a negative impact on the team’s defence, but it appears to have done exactly the opposite. Of course, that isn’t because of Luka himself, but since he joined the team they are fifth in the league in defensive rating, and with Doncic, LeBron and Austin Reaves sharing the offensive ball-handling duties, they are unsurprisingly pretty dangerous at that end of the floor too.

What’s more, given they have all only played a handful of games together, there is still plenty of room for improvement. From when Doncic came into the team until the time of writing they are 11-6, but that’s with LeBron missing a third of those games and their offence only sitting around mid-league. Clearly they’re capable of better than that, and if they can maintain their defence at the level it currently is while finding their mojo offensively, they will be very dangerous. In many ways, the Lakers are the exact opposite to the favourites; while the Celtics and Thunder are extremely well-rounded and stable, the Lakers are top-heavy and have been incredibly volatile this season. But sometimes, volatility is exactly what you want in a long odds outsider. If everything goes to plan, the Lakers are not without a chance this season.

What brings them here? The Lakers hovered between being a very good and decent team during the LeBron/AD era, but with Doncic they’ll be looking to take things up a notch the remainder of the season.

What could hold them back? A couple of things. The Lakers don’t have all that much depth beyond their top three players, and they have also not played together for very long. Come crunch time in big games in the postseason, it will be interesting to see who takes the reins.

Injury report. A LeBron James groin injury put the LBJ/Doncic experiment on pause, but he should return by the end of March. Rui Hachimura has missed a few games with a knee injury but will also be good to go in March.

Bet on the Lakers to win the NBA Championship at $17.00 with Unibet

Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets are realistically not all that different a team to that which one the 2023 NBA championship, and which was widely expected to give it another red-hot crack last season before they were bundled out in the second round by the plucky young Timberwolves. That they are at such long odds is largely a product of just how impressive the above teams are, with the dominant Celtics and Thunder in particular turning otherwise championship-level teams to relatively long outsiders. But while the Nuggets might not have nearly the depth of those teams at their disposal, what they do have is a weapon more lethal than any other in the world in the form of Nikola Jokic.

Whether he wins the MVP or not, the Joker is still the pre-eminent player in the world, and with him at the helm an otherwise average offensive team boasts an offensive rating of 119.1 – the second-best in the league. Of course that’s not to say they have no other good players. Jamal Murray remains a lethal scorer on his day, Aaron Gordon is a key for them, Michael Porter Jr has become a solid starter, Christian Braun has fitted seamlessly into a starting position and Russell Westbrook is still capable of providing useful minutes. But it’s Jokic who is the head of the snake, and it’s Jokic who is going to have to dominate if they are to win this year’s championship. Beyond that, however, it’s also their defence which needs to improve to compete; they are second offensively but 19th in defence, and if that doesn’t change they’ll be hard-pressed to beat those top teams in a seven-game series. But any team with Jokic running the show is an intimidating one, and at long odds the Nuggets don’t look like the worst bet.

What brings them here? The Nuggets have been right up there for years now, with a whole lot of organisational stability and a team centred around the best player in the world helping them to remain a contender for years.

What could hold them back? The Nuggets do not have the depth of teams like the Celtics, Thunder, Knicks and Cavs, and in a seven-game series that could haunt them.

Injury report. The Nuggets have a lot of players with niggles – Jokic with an elbow, Murry an ankle, Gordon a calf and Braun a foot – but they are all just that; niggles.

Bet on the Nuggets to win the NBA Championship at $17.00 with Unibet

Golden State Warriors

Another team that appears to have benefited greatly during the trade period is the Golden State Warriors. They have had a strange old season. Early on, they appeared set to exceed expectations significantly courtesy of a blistering start to the season, but it didn’t last and they gradually stumbled their way down the Western Conference standings. But a trade which saw Jimmy Butler join the team at the expense of, among others, Andrew Wiggins, appears to be paying dividends. Butler has been solid with his new team, but his presence appears to have re-invigorated the likes of Steph Curry and Draymond Green and since he has been there, they have been very tough to beat.

In fact, in the first 18 games since Butler made his Warriors debut, they are an incredible 15-3, boasting the fifth best offence in the league, the second best defence, and the third best net rating. That was not something that many predicted; Butler is a good player but he is 35 and hasn’t been playing well for some time, and the mishmash of extreme experience and youth does not on paper look like a championship team. But the Warriors are continuing to prove that basketball is not played on paper, and have put themselves in position to secure a solid seed and hit the playoffs running. Curry is still capable of taking games away from opponents and Butler has proven time and time again that he can take his game to another level in the playoffs, but as good as they have been, given the quality of other teams it does remain difficult to see this team going all the way.

What brings them here? The Warriors did not really look like being in this discussion until Butler came into the team, and they abruptly turned a corner.

What could hold them back? The Warriors’ most important players are all well and truly on the wrong side of 30, while many of the rest of them are still very young.

Injury report. Nothing to really worry about at the moment on an injury front for the Warriors.

Bet on the Warriors to win the NBA Championship at $21.00 with Unibet

New York Knicks

The Knicks have gone all out over the past couple of years to try to compile a squad capable of competing for a championship. On paper, there is plenty to like about this team; like the Thunder and Celtics, they have a really high-quality starting five with no major weak points, and in Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns they do have a couple of elite players in the mix leading the way. The main issue for the Knicks is that those two stars are not at the Tatum or especially Gilgeous-Alexander level, and the supporting cast is not quite at the level of those teams either. The end result is a good but not great team that would need to take things up a notch or two in the postseason to be a realistic championship threat.

Interestingly, it’s at the defensive end where this team has struggled most; unusual for a Tom Thibodeau-coached team. They’re right around league average for defence, but offensively have been one of the best teams. That’s been enough to all-but lock away the third seed in the East – they are a long way back on the Celts, but comfortably ahead of a couple of teams on the rungs below them. But this just feels like a team that will win their first round series, then struggle once they face either the Cavs or the Celtics. Their record against the best teams suggests as much; against Boston they are 0-3 (with an average losing margin of 21 points), against Cleveland they are 0-2 (with an average losing margin of 21.5 points) and against the Thunder they are 0-2 (with an average losing margin of 17.5 points). That is a grim record against the best teams in the league and suggests that when push comes to shove, this team won’t be good enough.

What brings them here? The Knicks have benefited enormously from bringing in Jalen Brunson a couple of seasons ago, while they have gradually acquired plenty of solid players to surround him with.

What could hold them back? The Knicks have a very deep roster, but they don’t boast the star power of many other contenders. Against the best teams in the league, that has shown.

Injury report. A Brunson ankle injury will see him miss a few weeks through to around early April.

Bet on the Knicks to win the NBA Championship at $31.00 with Unibet

Milwaukee Bucks

Rounding out this list is the ever-frustrating Bucks, who have struggled immensely at times this season, then looked quite good, then settled somewhere in the middle. Overall they will be disappointed with their season to date, with the Giannis Antetokounmpo/Damian Lillard experiment continuing to not quite reach the high expectations the organisation had set for it. Milwaukee is embroiled in a three-team battle for the fourth seed, but to what end? If they do manage to snare that and secure home court advantage against likely the Pacers or Pistons, that will give them an edge in a series they’d probably be hoping to win regardless. But then what?

Up against the Celtics or Cavaliers it’s hard to see this team winning a seven-game series, and if they miraculously did make their way through to the NBA Finals, they’d subsequently have to beat either the Thunder or a team that had just somehow beat the Thunder. It’s a tough ask, and to be frank it does not seem like one that they are up to. The Bucks are 15th in the league offensively and 10th defensively, not exactly championship level numbers, and while they do have one of the best in the business in Antetokounmpo, they just do not have enough around he and Lillard. For a team a little way down the standings, an elite top-end is probably preferable to a well-rounded but average team in terms of springing a surprise, but it’s really hard to see this team getting beyond the second round of the playoffs.

What brings them here? Giannis Antetokounmpo has kept the Bucks somewhat relevant for years and any team with both he and Lillard has plenty of potential, though they are not performing at nearly a championship level so far this season.

What could hold them back? Maybe they just aren’t that good? The Bucks have top-end talent, but so far this season they are thoroughly average at both ends of the floor.

Injury report. Injuries have not been all that kind to the Bucks this season, but they are fit and firing at the minute.

Bet on the Bucks to win the NBA Championship at $81.00 with Unibet

As it has been all season long, the race for the championship appears to be between two teams, with a very clear third the most likely to upend the status quo. The Celtics and the Thunder are red-hot favourites for good reasons, with a couple of brilliant rosters for whom it is difficult to imagine too much going wrong. The Thunder are passing every test they face with flying colours, but the Celtics’ experience in the biggest moment might, in my view, just give them that slight edge. For a little more value, both the Nuggets and the enigmatic Lakers are capable of springing a surprise and won’t be an easy out for anyone in the postseason, and either of them would be worth a dabble. But even at short odds, at this point in time, as I have for much of the season, I’m sticking with the Celtics.

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