NBA 2024/25 Futures odds. A closer look

No significant change over the last few days in the NBA winner odds, so let's take a diversion into some of the deeper NBA betting markets.

Regular Season MVP odds
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 1.16
Nikolja Jokic: 5.00
Giannis Antetokounmpo: 101.00
Jayson Tatum: 151.00
Rest of the players are 501.00 or higher

Division of NBA Championship WInner
Atlantic: 2.65
Northwest: 2.75
Central: 6.50
Southwest: 9.50
Pacific: 11.00
Southest: 36.00

Which State will the NBA winner come from?
The 'field': 1.16
New York: 12.00
Texas: 13.00
California: 16.00
Florida: 51.00

Slight change in the NBA winner odds for the top three. NY Knicks on the drift in the betting

OKC Thunder are now out to 3.60 as the bookmakers will still not budge on the Celtics as 3.25 favorites.

Bit of betting support for the Denver Nuggets, into 15.00 clear 4th choice.

Next up for the Denver Nuggets:

22nd Jan: DEN v PHI
24th Jan: DEN v SAC
25th Jan: DEN @ MIN

The New Orleans Pelicans are on their best streak of the the season (W4), but still at 1001.00 to win. In the same betting bracket as the Nets, Hornets, Bulls, Trail Blazers, Raptors, Jazz and Wizards.

NBA streaks in the Western Conference

Don't expect any significant changes any time soon in the overall betting, especially for the top three.

Not the strongest division, but the most interesting one, is still the Pacific Division, only three wins separating top from bottom.

NBA winner betting odds for 24/25:

Boston Celtics: 3.25
OKC Thunder: 3.30
Cleveland Cavaliers: 9.00
Denver Nuggets: 15.00
New York Knicks: 16.00
Dallas Mavericks: 17.00

Celtics now into odds on to win the Eastern Conference

Boston beat Orlando Magic with ease (121-94) and have now firmed in the Eastern Conference betting odds to a shade under even money.

Eastern Conference betting odds:

Boston Celtics: 1.95
Cleveland Cavaliers: 4.50
NY Knicks: 5.50

Next up for the Celtics is a home game vs Atlanta Hawks.
The Cavaliers travel to play Minnesota after being firmly put in their place by OKC Thunder.
NY Knicks host Atlanta. (This will be a tough couple of days for the 21-19 Hawks)

Cavaliers, Celtics and Knicks still clear of the pack in the Eastern

A look at the overall picture sees the Celtics just about now holding on to favoritism, albeit by the smallest of margins:

NBA winner betting odds for 24/25:

Boston Celtics: 3.25
OKC Thunder: 3.30
Cleveland Cavaliers: 9.00
New York Knicks: 13.00
Denver Nuggets: 17.00
Dallas Mavericks: 18.00

Next up for OKC Thunder is a home game vs the dismal Brooklyn Nets. OKC are 18-2 at home this season.

The Thunder are looking the real deal!

A closer look at the Western Conference as OKC dominate

The Thunder continue to roll in the Western, making light work of the Wizards, Knicks and 76ers in the last three games.

Next up is a big test though against the Cavs (34-5) at Paycom Center. Both teams are dominating their respective conferences.

The Cavaliers got the better of OKC in a 129-122 victory back on the 9th January with a late surge.

The Thunder are now into 3.40 in the latest NBA Championship betting odds. Celtics remain 3.30 favorites. Cavaliers are 8.50 but if they win in Oklahoma, those odds will contract. This game is a significant one in terms of where both these teams stand.

Next game for OKC: Cleveland Cavaliers at Oklahoma City Thunder free tips and best odds

At the foot of the table are the Pelicans, who are showing some fight (at last). Edging past the Dallas Mavericks by three points, NOP have won their last two games taking them to double figure wins for the season

Next game the Pelicans: Utah Jazz at New Orleans Pelicans odds, bets and free tips

NBA winner betting odds for 24/25:

Boston Celtics: 3.30
OKC Thunder: 3.40
Cleveland Cavaliers: 8.50
New York Knicks: 14.00
Denver Nuggets: 17.00
Dallas Mavericks: 21.00

Cavs suffer a rare loss. But eventually getting some respect in the NBA Championship odds

Well, it's taken 38 games for the bookmakers to give the Cleveland Cavaliers into single figure odds to win the competition. Currently standing with a 33-5 record at a pct of 86.8%, despite coming off the back of a loss to the Indiana Pacers.

No shame in getting beaten by the Pacers at the moment though, they are on a six game winning streak.

Pacers on fire

Pacers currently stand at 101.00 in the NBA betting odds. If they carry on playing like this, those odds won't be available for much longer.

Next up for the Pacers: Can they do it again? And will we tip them again?
Cleveland Cavaliers at Indiana Pacers - latest free tips

The Vegas bookmakers are not giving too much value for Boston in the latest NBA futures odds. No matter how the Celtics play (and clearly, they are deserved favorites), the sportsbooks are holding too much money on Boston to win again to attract any more bets on the champs.

Latest NBA winner odds for 24/25:

Boston Celtics: 3.25
OKC Thunder: 3.60
Cleveland Cavaliers: 9.00
New York Knicks: 13.00
Denver Nuggets: 17.00
Dallas Mavericks: 19.00

All other teams over 22.00 in the betting.

OKC now nudging their way into joint favorites, getting a lot of respect from the Sportsbooks and the NBA experts. Next game for the Thunder is vs the 76ers, they head into that as a 10.5 points favorite on the line.

OKC looking the real deal

Next up for OKC:
Oklahoma City Thunder at Philadelphia 76ers, Thunder are currently 10.5 point favorites for this match up

Western Conference betting odds:

OKC Thunder: 2.20
Denver Nuggets: 7.50
Dallas Mavericks: 8.50

Over in the Eastern Conference, the usual suspects top the betting odds

Eastern Conference betting odds:

Boston Celtics: 2.00
Cleveland Cavaliers: 4.50
NY Knicks: 6.00

Cavs on the march in the Eastern

Next up for Cleveland: Another battle with Indiana
Cleveland Cavaliers at Indiana Pacers - latest free tips

2024/25 NBA Championship odds relatively unchanged since before the season began

As we wrote back on October 15th, there were only three teams at single figure betting odds to win the NBA. And guess what? That's still the case, AND it's the same three teams in the same order in the betting.

NBA winner odds:
Boston Celtics: 3.25
OKC Thunder: 4.33
NY Knicks: 9.50

The team who have massively blown out are the Philadelphia 76ers. Philly were as low as 10.00 pre-season, and now you can back them at 35.00 (which is still way too skinny)

Cleveland Cavaliers are the team who have really proven the bookies wrong. The Cavs are now just 14.00 to win the whole thing.

Denver Nuggets remain at pretty much the same odds as they were in pre-season, around 16.00, and occupying 4th position in the Conference.,

Dallas Mavericks look solid also at 14.00

Ten teams are now odds of 1001.00 and above.

The Winners

The Celtics are strong favourites to retain the NBA Championship after a thoroughly dominant campaign in 2023/24. Rarely looking in any trouble throughout the season, Boston beat the Mavericks 4-1 in the final series, their first win since 2008.

So the bookies would be looking to keep them safe again, you would think? Well that depends where you place your NBA bets.

Stateside, BETMGM are looking to lay the Celtics by offering a clear top price of 4.25. BETMGM have consistently sided against the Celtics during preseason, and their traders clearly want to take on the Champs.

Thunder, Knicks, and 76ers are the only other teams consistently offered at single figure odds. But there are still significant disparities amongst their odds. Whilst opposing the Celtics, MGM are keeping the Thunder and Knicks safe, both at 7.75. Yet other Vegas sportsbook are more than happy to keep pushing out the 76ers to as high as 11.00. Across the pond in the UK, you’ll be lucky to get more than 9.00 for Philly.

The Denver Nuggets are another team dividing open with the Sportsbooks, ranging between 10.00 and 13.00 to win the big prize.

Similarly, if you don’t want to shop around, you can place your bets on the Suns at 16.00 with MGM, or click on to DraftKings and pick up 31.00  and a free $1000 bet at the same time.

But it’s when we look further afield, down the ranks, that we get to see some real prices differences.

Despite relentless pressure from the media as an ageing team in regression, the LA Lakers fans are sticking by their team. As big as 51.00 just days ago, the Lakers are now as low as 26.00. Although can get some small money on at 41.00 if you shop around.

If the smaller odds don’t interest you, you can throw a few dollars on a Hail Mary bet. All these teams are available at odds of at least 1001.00 - Bulls, Hornets, Trail Blazers, Wizards, Nets, Raptors,  and Jazz.

Good luck with that by the way.

The Superstars

Think your favourite player will have a stellar season but don’t rate his team’s chances? Take a deeper look at the individual player market odds. Let’s start with Regular Season MVP futures betting.

Usual suspects here again you’ll see. These are the best odds available currently:

Luka Dončić: 5.00
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 5.50
Nikola Jokić: 5.50
Giannis Antetokounmpo: 10.00
Joel Embiid: 10.00           
Jalen Brunson: 13.00
Anthony Edwards: 14.00
Victor Wembanyama: 19.00

Luka and Nicola have been relatively stable in the pre-season odds for MVP, but don’t let that put you off. Bettors are looking for some value with high figure outsider bets, notably, Ja Morant at 26.00 and Steph Curry at 41.00.

You can bet Lebron at 200.00 (backed in from 250.00).

Wembanyama was a big mover in the odds before the season began last time out, and his backers don’t seem to have lost faith. He is solid at between 21.00 and 19.00, and is attracting a lot of bets.

Moving onto the new kids now, and the 2024/25 NBA Rookie of the year betting is as open and as difficult as ever. If we've got to set our stall out somewhere to begin, it's that 50% of recent award winners have been the leading Rookie points scorer. This is what the judges are looking for.

Align that with another 50% stat - since 2008, half the award winners have been the number one overall draft pick. So now we are getting somewhere.

The consensus amongst the NBA media is that the current bunch of rookies aren't that hot compared to most years, which might open the chances of a few outsiders being worth a small financial interest.

The Atlanta Hawks picked up the #1 player in the draft, Zaccharie Risacher, who is currently at best odds of 15.00. Those odds reflect concerns regarding the amount of time Risacher will have with the ball, in his first year in a young team all competing for a locked in starting position.

Zach Edey heads the betting at 6.00 favourite, and with good reason. Edey has been very well backed in this market throughout the summer since the Memphis Grizzlies coach made it pretty clear that Edey would start from game one.

Others to look to consider (maybe) at juicy odds.

Yves Miss 21.00
Bub Carrington 17.00
Donovan Clingan 21.00