2025 NBA Championship Odds: Lakers Unite LeBron & Bronny But Odds Stay Put

The initial free-agent flurry of July has faded but there are still moves to be made.

LeBron James unsurprisingly re-signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, keeping him in purple and gold for $104 million over the next two years. The Lakers' NBA championship odds didn't budge from around +3,000, though, as they're still trotting out a similar roster to last year's disappointment. Could they add someone like DeMar DeRozan to sweeten the pot?

With Philly and Dallas making big waves in the offseason market, let's see how the NBA odds to win the championship reacted — or didn't — to the blockbuster news.

NBA Championship odds

Live odds to win NBA Finals

2025 NBA title odds favorites

The Philadelphia 76ers essentially saw their 2025 NBA Championship odds halved after inking Paul George early on July 1. They were trading between 14/1 and 16/1 in late June and are now listed at +850 or shorter. They're only definitively behind the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder, as some books have the Sixers drawing shorter odds than the Denver Nuggets.

This represents Philly's latest attempt to build a Big 3 core around superstar center Joel Embiid after transient appearances from Jimmy Butler and James Harden, and Ben Simmons' erosion from NBA relavance. Now, George, Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey will take their shot at taking the East, but that's easier said than done. Keeping their new core together for a while, the Sixers also agreed to a five-year max extension with Maxey.

While George left the Los Angeles Clippers, James Harden has decided to stick it out for at least two more years after reportedly agreeing to a $70-million deal. The Clips, however, have fallen precipitously in the odds, going from 20/1 on June 17 to 50/1 following George's departure... even with the Beard back in tow.

The Celtics are favored to repeat in 2025, opening as short as +290 (at DraftKings). Boston boasts two alphas in Jayson Tatum and reigning Finals MVP Jaylen Brown, plus one of the more top-heavy talented supporting casts in modern NBA history.

The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to rise, now the second choice in the +750 range. The reigning top seed in the Western Conference effectively replaced Josh Giddey with Alex Caruso and then signed center Isaiah Hartenstein to a three-year deal after the New York Knicks shifted focus to acquiring Mikal Bridges and re-signing OG Anunoby.

Next on the board are the 2022-23 champions, the Nuggets (in the 8/1 range), who are always a threat to win with three-time MVP Nikola Jokic leading the charge.

The reigning West champs — Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks — are in the 10/1 range, along with the Milwaukee Bucks and ascendant Minnesota Timberwolves. Their biggest "splash" has been acquiring Klay Thompson and extending him on a three-year, $50-million deal in a sign-and-trade involving the Golden State Warriors and the Charlotte Hornets. The Mavs' championship odds did not move in either direction.

The Bridges acquisition saw the Knicks' odds spike from +1,600 to +900 at BetMGM, who reported them taking 42% (most) of the money to win the championship in the immediate aftermath of that deal. The impact on the betting market was even more drastic for Eastern Conference futures, with 94% of the money on the Knicks in the days following the trade, moving from +750 to +450 to win the East. 

Finally — for now, anyway — the Detroit Pistons are drawing the longest odds at 1,000/1. Their odds didn't budge after signing old friend Tobias Harris to a two-year, $52-million contract.

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
2013-14	San Antonio Spurs	+1,000	Miami Heat

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

2024 NBA Finals odds over time

Here's a look at how NBA championship odds stacked up league-wide last season. We'll be updating this when the 2024-25 season gets underway to show how the odds race evolves.    

Understanding NBA Finals futures, point spreads and lines

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.

Reading the NBA Finals moneyline odds

Betting the moneyline (ML) in the NBA means simply picking which team wins the game outright. Moneyline favorites have a negative value (-110), while moneyline underdogs have a positive value (+110). It's a two-way market, which means there are only two options to place a wager. 

Team	Moneyline odds
Boston Celtics	-130
Dallas Mavericks	+110

American odds are very straightforward. If a sportsbook has the Boston Celtics listed as -130 favorites, you would have to bet $130 to win $100. If you wagered $100 on the opposing underdog Minnesota Timberwolves at +110, you would get a $210 return, including your original stake.

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 14 of the last 22 NBA Championships.
  
  
• A No. 1 seed has won the championship in 12 of the last 22 seasons.
  
  
• The last time a non-Top-3 seed won the championship was 1995 (Houston, No. 6).
  
  
• The Golden State Warriors have won four of the past nine NBA titles, and were crowned Western Conference champions in two of those five seasons they didn't lift the Larry O. 

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.

NBA Championship Odds FAQs

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