2025 NBA Championship Odds: Knicks the Talk of the Towns

Lights, camera, action. The 2024-25 NBA season is almost here, and its biggest market is stirring the pot on the eve of training camps. 

In an out-of-nowhere blockbuster, the New York Knicks brought in Karl-Anthony Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves late Friday night in exchange for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, DaQuan Jeffries, and a first-round pick. 

The defending champion Boston Celtics are still favored in the 2025 NBA Championship odds, but they can hear the Knicks' footsteps. The Oklahoma City Thunder, meanwhile, loom as the best in the West. 

Let's see how the NBA odds to win the Larry O'Brien Trophy shape up with the season looming.

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Knicks make waves with Bridges, Towns trades

The Boston Celtics could afford to stand pat after a dominant run to yet another NBA title, but the New York Knicks knew they couldn't do the same.

New York traded for Mikal Bridges earlier in the offseason to play alongside Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby, but with Isaiah Hartenstein heading to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Mitchell Robinson's health a constant unknown, the Knicks clearly needed an upgrade down low.

Enter Karl-Anthony Towns.

The NBA world was blindsided by sudden move, but it made some sense as the T-Wolves already had Rudy Gobert manning its pivot, and Sixth Man extraordinaire Naz Reid able to absorb a bigger role if needed, not to mention salary cap concerns. Replacing Towns with three-time All-Star Julius Randle and breakout flamethrower Donte DiVincenzo may not be an apples-to-apples move, but it's not as if Minnesota walked away from this deal with nothing to show for it.

Of course, the NBA is a superstar's league, and the team landing the best player often comes out on top of a trade. 

The Knicks were bet down to the +700 range, or about a 20% decrease. BetRivers has them as low as +500 and ahead of the Thunder. New York opened at about +1,600 right after the confetti dropped on the 2024 champion Celtics.

Celtics running it back

The Celtics are on top of the NBA championship odds board, a place they grew accustomed to last year as wire-to-wire favorites en route to the franchise's 18th Larry O.

Despite a summer of memes and Twitter speculation, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown remain a deadly dual-alpha force, leading the league's best core rotation. With three other potential All-Stars flanking them, Boston's roster is deep with elite two-way players.

After finally getting over the hump and hoisting a banner, this group will only come back more confident, regardless of what Steve Kerr or Reddit trolls may have tried to instill over the Olympics. They'll also be more cohesive after a full season together, with Joe Mazzulla looking far steadier at the helm in his second go-around at the playoffs. 

Sixers, Mavs made moves as well

Earlier in the offseason, the Philadelphia 76ers landed Paul George to assemble one of the best-fitting, most-talented Big 3s in the land, while rounding out the rotation with quality depth. Obviously, it all comes down to Joel Embiid's health next April, but if his legs are holding him up, this team will be a force.

They're priced as such, now the third choice at most sportsbooks, up to the +800 range after opening at +1,600.

But the defending West champs also tooled up, adding one of the best shooters in NBA history to create space around Luka Doncic.

While the version of Klay Thompson that the Dallas Mavericks are getting isn't quite peak Splash Brothers, it's definitely a functional upgrade for a roster that punched above its weight from 3-point range on its run to the Finals. The move adds talent and a championship pedigree to their rotation, but its impact on the betting market was slight, barely moving the Mavericks.

2024 NBA Finals odds over time

Here's a visual representation of how the NBA championship odds have evolved over the course of this season. Stay tuned — we'll be updating this graphic regularly as the chase for the Larry O continues to develop!  

Understanding NBA Finals futures

Sportsbooks will post NBA Finals futures as soon as the previous season concludes, and some even sooner. These betting boards are constantly adjusted throughout the summer and ensuing season as players get hurt or are traded. Once the regular season begins, NBA Finals odds will change daily as teams win and lose games, and as more players are injured or traded. Sportsbooks will also adjust the NBA title odds based on handle and liability to certain teams.

NBA Championship odds will usually look like this:

• Dallas Mavericks +240

This means that on a $100 bet, you'll stand to win $240 if the Mavs win the NBA title. If it's close to the end of the season or the NBA has a very dominant team, you could see a minus sign (-) ahead of a team's odds. 

• Boston Celtics -150

This means that if you bet on the Celtics during the 2023-2024 NBA season you would have needed to bet $150 to profit $100 if Boston won the championship.

Above we have posted the American odds for the NBA championship. However, these are easy to convert to decimal odds or fractional odds with our odds converter tool.

Past NBA Finals winners

The Boston Celtics hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy for a record-setting 18th time in 2024, dispatching the fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks in five games.

Here are the last 10 NBA Finals winners, along with their opening odds.

Season	NBA Finals Winner	Opening odds	Runner up
2023-24	Boston Celtics	+400	Dallas Mavericks
2022-23	Denver Nuggets	+1,800	Miami Heat
2021-22	Golden State Warriors	+1,200	Boston Celtics
2020-21	Milwaukee Bucks	+500	Phoenix Suns
2019-20	Los Angeles Lakers	+1,800	Miami Heat
2018-19	Toronto Raptors	+6,600	Golden State Warriors
2017-18	Golden State Warriors	-168	Cleveland Cavaliers
2016-17	Golden State Warriors	+215	Cleveland Cavaliers
2015-16	Cleveland Cavaliers	+300	Golden State Warriors
2014-15	Golden State Warriors	+2,500	Cleveland Cavaliers

Best NBA Finals betting sites

If you're in a state that allows mobile, or online betting, make sure you know which sites are the best basketball betting sites. The best betting sites offer sharp odds, quick payouts and are safe and secure when it comes to depositing and withdrawing your money. 

NBA Championship odds trends

• The Western Conference has won 16 of this century's 25 NBA championships.
  
  
• A No. 1 seed has won the championship in 11 of the last 17 seasons.
  
  
• The last time a non-Top-3 seed won the championship was 1995 (Houston, No. 6).

Teams with the most NBA Championships

No team has ever enjoyed a longer stretch of dominance than the Celtics, who won eight straight championships from 1959 to 1966. Their most recent victory was also the team's 18th title, which pushed them ahead of the Lakers for the most by any franchise all-time.

Team	NBA championships
Boston Celtics	18
Los Angeles Lakers	17
Golden State Warriors	7
Chicago Bulls	6
San Antonio Spurs	5
Philadelphia 76ers	3
Detroit Pistons	3
Miami Heat	3
Milwaukee Bucks	2
New York Knicks	2
Houston Rockets	2
Toronto Raptors	1
Dallas Mavericks	1
Cleveland Cavaliers	1
Portland Trail Blazers	1
Denver Nuggets	1

How to bet NBA Finals odds

There are many strategies to consider when making an NBA futures bet on which team will win the championship. Obviously, you're looking to bet on who you think can navigate through the NBA playoffs and come out on top. So, just because a team is in first place at the NBA All-Star break, it doesn't mean that's the best roster to win in the postseason. 

One thing to consider is the conference the teams play in because a team needs to win its conference before it can win the NBA title. The West has long been considered the better of the two conferences, but the East's depth of elite teams has recently become as impressive, if not more. 

Also, consider how an injury may affect a futures bet. Let's say the Milwaukee Bucks are a heavy favorite to win the Eastern Conference and a short favorite to win the NBA title. But what happens if Giannis Antetokounmpo gets hurt? In that case, a ticket on a rival team to win becomes extremely valuable.

Other things to consider are strength of schedule, and even load management. Maybe a team is undervalued in the futures market because it has played the more difficult portion of its schedule early on. Or perhaps a team has more losses than it should because it has been sitting its best player on the second half of back-to-back games all season. 

Check out more insight into how to bet on basketball.

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