The NBA Championship market has hit something of a standstill in recent weeks, with the league hierarchy beginning to sort itself out as we near the halfway point of the regular season. The Celtics, as expected, sit right at the top, but they have been joined by the impressive Thunder, and those two find themselves a long way ahead of the chasing pack. They will both take some serious beating in their respective Conferences, but there are plenty of good teams capable of making them work for their spoils, with the likes of the Knicks and Cavaliers in the East and the Mavericks and Nuggets in the West among the frontrunners to do just that. Below, we take a look at how each of the favourites are shaping up in the race for the 2024-25 championship.
NBA 2024-25 Championship Winner Betting Preview – Odds, Tips & Predictions
NBA Championship Favourites
Boston Celtics
Given how easily they cruised to last season’s title, the Celtics were always going to be difficult to beat in 2024-25, and though they have work to do if they are to finish the season as the number one seed in the Eastern Conference, they will still be pretty comfortable with the way things sit. As it stands they are a fair way back from the Cavaliers and about on par with the Knicks, but there is a big gap back to fourth place and plenty of time for the Celtics to make up ground – which they will more than likely do. They have not been the best performed team in the league as far as win/loss goes, but in terms of net rating they are right up there with the Thunder and Cavaliers at the top of the pile.
They have indisputably the best starting five in the league when fully fit, which they have not been for much of the season, but even with Kristaps Porzingis missing a bunch of games they don’t get all that much worse with Al Horford filling in for them. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown continue to lead from the front while Derrick White and Jrue Holiday are a lethal defensive backcourt combination and more than capable with ball in hand too, while Payton Pritchard has taken a massive step forward to become the red-hot favourite for the Sixth Man of the Year award. There is very little to criticise about this team; they have plenty of talent, an incredible amount of depth and championship experience, and though they are pretty short-priced this far out from the end of the season, it’s hard to see them failing to at the very least make the Conference Finals and most likely the NBA Finals themselves, in which they will be very tough to beat.
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. The fact that they won’t have the best player in numerous playoff series could be the one black mark against them.
Injury report. Porzingis has an ankle injury but it’s not a long-termer like he had earlier in the season, while Jaylen Brown suffered a shoulder injury early in January – but likewise, he shouldn’t miss more than a couple of games.
Bet on the Boston Celtics to win the NBA Championship @ $3.30 with PlayUp
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder’s inevitable rise came a little quicker than many expected when they jumped from 24, to 40 and then to 57 wins over the past three seasons, and they unsurprisingly appear to have improved even further this season. That was pretty inevitable considering that the oldest player in their ideal starting five is the 26-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, with significant development from the likes of Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and to a lesser extent Cason Wallace always set to put them right in the mix as a championship contender. As it turns out, they have had to deal with much of the season to date without Holmgren and will be without him for a while longer after he suffered a hip injury but it’s testament to the quality and depth of this team that it hasn’t really slowed them down in the slightest. The addition of Isaiah Hartenstein has certainly helped enormously in that regard, with the former Knick playing a pivotal role at the centre position since he entered the lineup, while Gilgeous-Alexander is again right in the mix for this season’s MVP, Williams is the favourite to win the Most Improved Player Award, and Lu Dort is now a 40% three-point shooter as well as one of the league’s premier defenders.
As of early January, the Thunder had not lost a game since the very beginning of December with the exception of the NBA Cup Final against the Bucks, which does not count towards their regular season win/loss record. That perhaps stands as the biggest question mark against this team – they are very young and aside from making it to the Conference Semis last season, don’t have much in the way of postseason experience. The NBA Cup finals was one of the bigger stages on which they have played, and proved to be one of the very few occasions this season in which they have faltered. But there is no denying the talent of this team, and when Holmgren comes back they will be even better. Their loss in the NBA Cup final should by no means suggest that they will suffer from stage fright under the bright lights of the playoffs, particularly given they will have seven games to get the job done in the postseason. This team will be knocking on the door for many years to come, and stands as the biggest threat to the Celtics for this season’s title.
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 off? 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. Chet Holmgren will have his hip re-evaluated in January, while Alex Caruso has a hip injury too, though not a serious one like Holmgren.
Bet on the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the NBA championship at $4.50 with Unibet
New York Knicks
For quite some time there has been a pretty hefty drop off from the Celtics and the Thunder to the next favourite team in the championship betting, and the Knicks have been that next team for a lot of it. Nothing has changed in that regard, though they have shortened very slightly courtesy of an excellent run of form. After being knocked out of the NBA Cup on the 12th of December, the Knicks went on to win their next nine games, a streak which is still ongoing at the time of writing. Admittedly it has been a pretty easy run of games, though included within it was a 26-point defeat of last season’s Western Conference Finalists in the Timberwolves.
Jalen Brunson remains the leader of this team, but the additions they have made over recent seasons have proved by and large to be very good ones, with Karl-Anthony Towns in particular having a massive impact. They are clearly a better team after trading him for Julius Randle and Donte DiVencenzo even despite his defensive limitations, with the talented big man averaging 24.9 points per game on 54.8% shooting from the field and a massive 44% from three-point range (all career-highs), while his 13.7 rebounds per game is also a career-high. OG Anunoby has continued to be a really solid player as a little more than a three-and-d wing, Mikal Bridges is coming into his own after a slow start to life as a Knick, and Josh Hart remains a really important Swiss-army knife for this team. The Knicks have plenty of room for improvement on defence, normally a strength for Tom Thibodeau-coached teams, but they have worked their way up to 11th in the league while they are second on offence. This is a really, really good team and will pose a challenge for anyone they play in the playoffs. Probably the main question mark is that they are a similar team to the Celtics in the sense that they thrive off balance rather than individual brilliance, but are probably not as good as Boston. Still, they are more than capable of beating virtually anyone in the league and if they face the Celtics should be able to take at least a couple of games off them, and put themselves in the mix to make it to the NBA Finals.
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 off? The Knicks get the most out of themselves and have a very deep roster, but they don’t boast the star power of many other contenders. Brunson is a bonafide superstar, but not at the level of guys like Jokic and Doncic, and their next best player is not as good as the second fiddles on many other teams.
Injury report. Mitchell Robinson is expected to be cleared for practice in January after missing all of the season to date. Jalen Brunson has missed games with a calf injury but it’s nothing major.
Bet on the New York Knicks to win the 2024-25 NBA Championship at $11.00 with Unibet
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers have arguably been the surprise packet of the season so far. That is not to say that they weren’t expected to be good – they were a solid enough team last season, even if there was a little tumult at times. But they probably looked like to be similar if not just a little bit better than the team which won 48 games last season. As it stands, they are on track to pass that number about two-thirds of the way into the season. It took 17 games for them to be beaten at the beginning of this season, and even once they were they have not really slowed down, taking their record to 29-4 early in the new year on the back of a still ongoing eight-game winning streak. And they have been beating good teams, too, with three consecutive wins by double-figure margins over the Lakers, Warriors and Nuggets, and a 23-point win over the Bucks also included in that win streak.
During that time, they have a dominant net rating of 17.4 – their offence has been the best in the league with a rating of 124.0, and their defence 5th at 106.6. They drain threes like they are going out of fashion, led by their backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, while their frontcourt of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen provides plenty of rim protection and ample scoring power in the paint. There is a whole lot going for this team, but despite their phenomenal record they are still at relatively long odds with some betting sites to win the championship. Granted they still have plenty to prove; they have not really been in the mix in seasons past and have some very stiff competition to get through. But the longer they continue to perform at this very high level, the more confidence there will be in their ability to carry it through to the postseason. It would be no surprise to see their championship odds continue to drop, and at $15 they look like pretty solid value at the minute.
What brings them here? Any team with Luka Doncic at the helm is going to at least be competitive, and with Kyrie Irving joining him in the backcourt a couple of seasons ago this team has plenty of top-end talent.
What could hold them off? The Mavericks’ best couple of players are bonafide superstars, but the drop off to their third best player is really large.
Injury report. Isaac Okoro suffered a shoulder injury in late December which has seen him sidelined for a couple of weeks and may extend a little bit longer.
Bet on the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the 2024-25 NBA Championship at $15.00 with PlayUp
NBA Spicy Contenders
Dallas Mavericks
In contrast to the trend of ‘super teams’ that has become so prevalent over the past decade or so in the NBA, the above four teams are all so good largely because of their depth and balance. The Mavericks, however, fall more on the other side of the ledger. Granted they have become deeper and more well-balanced over the past season or so, but this remains a team which is heavily reliant on its superstar backcourt of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. That was evident through their early season struggles, which came, surprise surprise, when Doncic was playing a little below the incredibly high standard that he has set for himself over recent years. Lo and behold, with his form improving so too did that of the Mavericks, though a calf injury sustained in December put the brakes on his season.
The Mavs actually started out reasonably well to life without their superstar, but it hasn’t really lasted. After a loss to the Timberwolves they bounced back to beat the Suns late in December, but followed that up with three consecutive losses to the Blazers, Kings and Rockets. Though they have added Klay Thompson, PJ Washington is a decent piece and a couple of other players have some value, Doncic’s absence has proved just how reliant on him they are. Without he and Irving firing, the Mavericks are not a championship threat. And as for with them both? That they made it through to the NBA Finals last season suggests that they are not far off and they are probably a deeper team this season, but they were realistically a lot worse than the Celtics and didn’t go close to beating them. With such a talented back court the Mavericks are certainly a team to be wary of, but there is no denying that there are numerous better teams than them in the NBA.
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 off? 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. Doncic suffered his calf injury on Christmas Day, and isn’t expected to be re-evaluated until late in January. Dante Exum has been out all season with a wrist injury.
Bet on the Dallas Mavericks to win the 2024-25 NBA Championship at $17.00 with Unibet
Denver Nuggets
Speaking of top-heavy teams, the Nuggets are another with a very obvious focal point and a significant drop-off after it. But when that focal point is Nikola Jokic, a substantial gap between your best and second-best player is inevitable. The Serbian remains the best player in the world and it isn’t particularly close, and along with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the clear favourite to win what would be his fourth MVP. The Nuggets have a pretty similar roster to what they have had over the past couple of seasons when they have been a contender, but despite that plenty of people have jumped off them this season. They admittedly had a bit of a slow start to the season, but they have been working their way up the standings and things are gradually beginning to come together.
Jokic is doing what Jokic does, but importantly, their second fiddle in Jamal Murray has begun to play a lot better. Russell Westbrook has also found his role in his first season with the Nuggets and has actually played some excellent basketball, Michael Porter Jr is having the best season of his career and Christian Braun has been a pretty satisfactory replacement for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. An Aaron Gordon injury hasn’t helped, but they’ll benefit a lot when he comes back. This remains a very, very good team, and one that is probably flying a little bit under the radar at this point in time. An argument could be made that they are better than they have been in the past given the development of a couple of their young players, and even with the top-end talent in the league that makes them a serious championship contender. They deserve to be right up there with the teams viewed as the best chances of knocking off the Thunder and the Celtics, and at $17 look like pretty decent value.
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. Aaron Gordon missed a few games over the new year with a calf injury but should be back by early-mid January.
Bet on the Denver Nuggets to win the 2024-25 NBA Championship at $17.00 with Unibet
Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks are another team that is heavily reliant on its top-end talent, primarily Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard. Since Lillard came across to Milwaukee last season things have not gone exactly to plan, and by and large that tale has continued this season. Entering the new year they were just over .500, not exactly what a team with those two players would be hoping for, particularly in the Eastern Conference. But they have had their success, too. In December the Bucks became the second winners of the NBA Cup, knocking off the more highly fancied Thunder in the final in an impressive display, and they will be hoping that their performance in that in-season tournament is indicative of what they are capable of if all goes to plan.
The return of Khris Middleton, who missed a large chunk of the beginning of the season through injury, certainly helps, while Brook Lopez remains an important player at centre. Outside of those four, however, they don’t have a lot of players who do all that much except shoot. Theoretically the potential for this team is there, but they have been together for nearly a season and a half now and have not reached the heights they would hope to reach. So far this season, they have been little more than a middling team – 14th in offence and 12th in defence – and clearly, that will need to change dramatically if they are to challenge for the title. But the capacity for them to get better is certainly there. They haven’t necessarily had a great deal of continuity in terms of consistently having their best players out on the floor for extended periods, and if they get that for much of the rest of the season they certainly have the potential to be a lot better than they have been so far this season. If they are to challenge for a title, however, they will need to demonstrate a hell of a lot of improvement.
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? The Bucks just don’t seem all that good so far this season. They don’t have that much depth, and are not elite at either end of the floor, and against the best teams that will likely hurt them.
Injury report. The Bucks are pretty healthy at the time of writing, with sharpshooter AJ Green the most notable name on the injury list with a back injury – albeit not a long-term one.
Bet on the Milwaukee Bucks to win the 2024-25 NBA Championship at $21.00 with Unibet
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors are the gift that keeps on giving for the people of San Francisco, and their white hot start to this season suggested that they were poised to continue that generosity this season. They are certainly not the team that they once were, but under long-time coach Steve Kerr they have done a pretty good job of rotating their roster, while Steph Curry continues to defy Father Time and Draymond Green remains a valuable player. But the young brigade, led by the likes of Jonathan Kuminga, are also playing a pivotal role for this team as it prepares to enter a new era. Generally a transitionary period such as this would not necessarily yield a great deal of wins, but they started the season like a house on fire to put themselves much further up this list than most would have expected.
They have, however, begun to slide down the standings as the season has worn on, and their last game of 2024 saw them lose to the Cavaliers and hit the .500 mark for the first time this season after being well above it about 15 games in. The Western Conference, as we all know, is stacked, and the Warriors indifferent recent form has seen them move right down to the bottom of the Play-In Tournament positions. Making matters worse, a couple of capable teams sit just behind them ready to pounce, most notably the Suns. That the Warriors are this high in the championship betting appears to be more a product of the start to their season than anything else. For months now, they have not played like a team that will be appearing in the postseason, let alone contending for the championship. Curry remains a lethal offensive threat and the Warriors have plenty of other nice pieces, but there are other teams with a better chance of winning the championship this season who are at much longer odds. Even at $26 with some bookies, the Warriors do not look like a good value bet.
What brings them here? The Warriors have been the most successful team of the past decade and it was only a couple of seasons ago that they won their fourth championship of this era, but while they have done a good job of combining youth and experience, they do not look good enough to challenge this season.
What could hold them back? Basically, that they are not good enough. Curry is still a freak but is not at his peak, while Green is well past his. They have some nice young pieces, but probably not enough to carry them to a title.
Injury report. The Warriors have a number of short-term injuries to deal with, but they aren’t major. Gary Payton II has missed a few games with a calf over the new year period, while each of Andrew Wiggins, Curry, Green, Kyle Anderson and Brandon Podziemski have had various short-term ailments.
Bet on the Golden State Warriors to win the 2024-25 NBA Championship at $26.00 with Unibet
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