2025 NBA Cup Odds: Thunder, Cavs Favorite as Tournament Begins

The Emirates NBA Cup gets underway tonight, with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers the favorites.

Jared Hochman - Content Operations Manager at Covers.com
Jared Hochman • Content Manager
Oct 31, 2025 • 10:55 ET • 3 min read
NBA Cup odds Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Photo By - Imagn Images. Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) drives down the court as Cleveland Cavaliers guard Max Strus (1) defends.

The road to the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup — formerly known as the In-Season Tournament — officially begins tonight!

It's fitting that it begins on Halloween, with the return of special jerseys and unique (and often colorful) courts.

We've got the latest Emirates NBA Cup odds for the tournament, which runs until December 16.

2025 NBA Cup odds

Team bet365
Thunder Thunder +300
Cavaliers Cavaliers +650
Knicks Knicks +800
Nuggets Nuggets +1200
Magic Magic +1400
Rockets Rockets +1600
Warriors Warriors +1600
Timberwolves Timberwolves +1800
Clippers Clippers +2000
Hawks Hawks +2000
Pistons Pistons +2500
76ers 76ers +2500
Spurs Spurs +2500
Lakers Lakers +2500
Bucks Bucks +3300
Celtics Celtics +4000
Mavericks Mavericks +5000
Raptors Raptors +6000
Grizzlies Grizzlies +6000
Pacers Pacers +7500
Heat Heat +7500
Bulls Bulls +10000
Kings Kings +12500
Pelicans Pelicans +15000
Hornets Hornets +20000
Suns Suns +20000
Blazers Trail Blazers +20000
Jazz Jazz +50000
Nets Nets +50000
Wizards Wizards +50000

NBA Cup groups

The league's 30 teams will all compete in randomly drawn groups for the opening round, divided by conference, as listed below: 

East Group A East Group B East Group C
Cavs Cleveland Cavaliers Magic Orlando Magic Knicks New York Knicks
Hawks Atlanta Hawks 76ers Philadelphia 76ers Bucks Milwaukee Bucks
Pacers Indiana Pacers Celtics Boston Celtics Heat Miami Heat
Raptors Toronto Raptors Pistons Detroit Pistons Bulls Chicago Bulls
Wizards Washington Wizards Nets Brooklyn Nets Hornets Charlotte Hornets

West Group A West Group B West Group C
Thunder Oklahoma City Thunder Lakers Los Angeles Lakers Nuggets Denver Nuggets
Timberwolves Minnesota Timberwolves Clippers Los Angeles Clippers Rockets Houston Rockets
Suns Phoenix Suns Hoffenheim Dallas Mavericks Warriors Golden State Warriors
Kings Sacramento Kings Grizzlies Memphis Grizzlies Spurs San Antonio Spurs
Jazz Utah Jazz Pelicans New Orleans Pelicans Trail Blazers Portland Trail Blazers

🥇: Group winner
🥈: Wild Card

NBA Cup explained

Group Play

Each team will begin the tournament in one of six groups, divided by conference and randomly drawn from tiers based on the previous season's record, to ensure relative competitive balance.

Within each group, all teams will play regular-season games against each other on designated Tournament Nights from October 31 to November 28: Every Friday and also Tuesday, November 25, and Wednesday, November 26.

The records in those games determine who advances to the Knockout Round.

Knockout Round

The Knockout Round is comprised of eight teams, which begins on December 9-10:

  • The winners of each of the six groups
  • A wild-card team from each conference (the second-place team with the best record)

The Knockout Round is a single-elimination bracket. Teams in each conference with the best record will get home-court advantage in these matchups.

The semifinals and finals take place in Las Vegas on December 13 and 16, with the winner of each conference facing off for the NBA Cup.

Teams that make the knockout round will be awarded portions of an as-of-yet undisclosed prize pool, increasing the further they make it. A Tournament MVP and All-Tournament Team will also be awarded after play has concluded.


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Understanding NBA Cup odds

Sportsbooks will post odds for the NBA Cup during the prior offseason. These odds are adjusted throughout the season as players switch teams, show steady improvement, or are injured. Sportsbooks will also adjust the NBA odds based on handle and liability to certain teams.

NBA Cup odds will usually look like this:

  • Los Angeles Lakers +1,300

This means that on a $100 bet, you'll stand to win $1,300 if the Lakers win the tournament. If it's close to the end of the tournament and the NBA has a particularly dominant team, you might see a minus sign (-) ahead of its odds. 

  • Denver Nuggets -180

This means you have to bet $180 to win $100 on a Nuggets tournament win.

Above we have listed the American odds. However, these are easy to convert to decimal odds or fractional odds with our odds converter tool. And don't forget to check out our NBA forum if you're interested in chatting with other basketball bettors about NBA odds. 


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2025 NBA Cup MVP odds

Read our full NBA In-Season Tournament MVP odds analysis to learn more.

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Jared Hochman Content Operations Manager at Covers.com
Content Manager

Before Jared Hochman joined the Covers team in 2020, he worked for newspaper outlets such as the Chronicle Herald and The Coast, worked in marketing for SkipTheDishes and Vivid Seats, and previously ran a magazine. A journalism graduate from the University of King's College in, Halifax, N.S., "Hoch" brings more than a decade of experience in sports betting, having worked as a freelance handicapper, making appearances on Monumental Sports Network and the Sharp 600 podcast, and now also filling in occasionally as host of Covers' NHL Puck Props. 

Awarded Covers' company MVP for 2023, Jared is an avid bettor of MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA, while also wagering on some soccer and WNBA. His best advice for sports bettors? Price shop, which is something he does daily across 10 different sportsbook apps.

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