NBA 2024-25 Championship Winner Betting Preview – Odds, Tips & Predictions

James Salmon
By: James Salmon
02/01/2025
NBA Tips, Predictions & News
NBA Championship Winner
NBA 2024-25 Championship Winner Betting Preview – Odds, Tips & Predictions

The NBA landscape has recently had a huge shake-up after two of the game’s biggest players in Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis were essentially traded for one another, and for the Lakers and Mavericks, at least, that has had a huge impact on championship odds. They both find themselves in the mix, though if the odds are to be believed it’s the Lakers who will benefit most from the trade in the short-term, but while that trade is where the attention of the NBA world has been in the early parts of February, not much has changed for the championship favourites. The Celtics and Thunder still find themselves sitting pretty as short-priced favourites, while the Cavs are finally getting the respect they deserve below them – ironically just when they actually started to lose a couple of games. Below, we take a look at how those teams and a few others who are in the mix are tracking as we enter the second half of the season.

NBA Championship Favourites

Boston Celtics 

After holding favouritism prior to the season and throughout its first half, the Celtics have officially been caught up to by the Thunder, but at the time of writing they are yet to be overtaken. Not that they will be particularly concerned whether they are favourites, tied at the top, or neither. This is a team built for the playoffs, with their wide array of offensive weapons ensuring they are never too reliant on one player, and every member of their starting five a high-level defender. The Cavaliers’ brilliant start to the season means they have had a stronghold on the number one seed in the East and may well be able to hold onto it, but whether the Celtics finish first or second (or, far less likely, third) won’t matter a great deal. They will be the team to beat in the Eastern Conference regardless, and probably a comfortable favourite against any team they may face in the NBA Finals with the exception of the Thunder.

There is very little going against the Celtics this season. They have the cattle at both ends of the floor, and championship experience to boot after they waltzed their way to their 18th of them last season. At worst they should be just as good as that version of the team, but with another year playing together under their belt and the improvement of guys like Payton Pritchard, they are probably even better. The Thunder are making a really good case for championship favouritism, but the reigning champions are still the team 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. Aiding the Celtics even further is a really clean bill of health, with no major issues of note to report at the time of writing.

Bet on the Boston Celtics to win the NBA Championship @ $3.30 with PlayUp

Oklahoma City Thunder

Oklahoma City Thunder

There might be more than 30 games left in the regular season, but it’s already extremely hard to see the Thunder failing to finish on top of the Western Conference. At present they find themselves six games clear with a record bested only by the Cavaliers – and even then just marginally – and are currently on pace to win around 65 games. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, of course, is the driving force behind their dominance, with his MVP favouritism in a season in which Nikola Jokic is playing perhaps as well as any player in history offensively a testament to that.

But there is a lot more to this team than just one player. Jalen Williams is averaging more points (albeit a little less efficiently), rebounds, assists and steals than ever before, Isaiah Hartenstein has proven to be an absolute boom recruit, while guys like Cason Wallace and Andrew Wiggins have also taken a step forward. Perhaps most frightening of all, Chet Holmgren has been out for months with a hip injury, and it hasn’t slowed them down one iota. When he returns they will be an even better team, with the potential to play he and Hartenstein alongside one another set to create an offensive nightmare for opposing teams. There is so much to like about this team and will be for years to come, and if they can play at the level they have so far in the regular season in the playoffs they will be an extremely tough team for any other – including the Celtics – to beat.

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. Holmgren’s alleged January evaluation has been moved to February, so he is likely still a few weeks away. Him aside, there are short-term issues with a few players including Jalen Williams, Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace, but they won’t be out long.

Bet on the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the NBA championship at $3.30 with PlayUp

Cleveland Cavaliers

Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavaliers played better than any other team in the league in the early stages of the season, and though they suffered a few losses in quick succession in late January, they remain the team with the best record in the business well into the second half of the season. They lost three games in a row during that aforementioned period, but each of those losses was by four points or less and they responded by winning their next four by an incredible 26.3 points. They are well clear of the Celtics on top of the East and a few games more ahead of third, so a top two seed looks all but assured barring a complete collapse over the remaining months of the season.

Of course, a high seed means nothing if a team does not have the capacity to continue performing in the playoffs, but there is no reason to think the Cavs can’t do that. They have the best offensive rating in the league by some margin, and though they aren’t as well-rounded defensively as the Celtics or the Thunder, with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen patrolling the interior they are still a good team at that end of the floor. The Cavs are an excellent and very well-rounded team, with perhaps the main factor keeping them a tier below those above teams being that they don’t have a top five or ten player like they do. Donovan Mitchell is a perennial All-Star, Mobley will very possibly end up even better and Darius Garland has turned into a fantastic player, but none of those are at the level of Gilgeous-Alexander or Jayson Tatum. But that certainly does not preclude them from championship contention. This team is very capable of going all the way, and is only just recently being appropriately recognised in the betting markets.

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 back? 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. Dean Wade will be out for a few weeks with a bone bruise suffered in late January, while Isaac Okoro is nearing a return from a shoulder injury which has seen him sidelined since the middle of Jan.

Bet on the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the 2024-25 NBA Championship at $9.00 with PlayUp

New York Knicks

New York Knicks

The Eastern Conference is severely lacking in depth relative to the West, but the Knicks make it three of the top four championship favourites from that side of the country. Like each of the teams above them, the reason that they are good is because of a very well-rounded roster. As obvious as that may sound, it has not been the modus operandi of many champions over recent years, with top-heavy, star-based rosters having become the status quo. The Knicks certainly have stars on their team – Jalen Brunson has been leading them brilliantly for a couple of years, and Karl-Anthony Towns is having the best season of his career after moving to the Big Apple.

Neither of those are top five players though, but with the likes of OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges joining them in the starting five, this is still a recipe cooking up some pretty tasty results. The Knicks are behind only the Cavs in offensive rating, though interestingly for a Tom Thibodeau-led team, they are only around league average at the other end of the floor. Neither Towns nor Brunson are good defenders so that certainly doesn’t help, but they do have plenty of very capable defensive players and should see that end of the floor as their area with the most potential for improvement. Whether they have the tools to go all the way remains to be seen, but if they can become a top-ten defensive team they will certainly pose a challenge for any team they come across in the postseason.

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 change? 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. The Knicks’ primary injury concern all season has been Mitchell Robinson, and with him set to make his season debut in February they could be in for a significant defensive boost.

Bet on the New York Knicks to win the 2024-25 NBA Championship at $9.00 with PlayUp

NBA Spicy Contenders

Denver Nuggets

Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets have not been setting the world on fire by their lofty standards this season, but they are still sitting in the top four in a competitive Western Conference and are on track for another 50+ win season. Primarily, concerns around their championship potential have been focused on their lack of depth, though their roster as it is currently constructed is not all that different from the one which won the 2023 championship, and looked every bit a contender for most of last season. Nikola Jokic is, of course, the head of the snake, and a head without whom this would be a really bad team. But so good is the three-time MVP that his presence takes them from a subpar offensive team to one of the best in the league.

Jamal Murray, Jokic’s sidekick for the past few years, didn’t start the season particularly well, but he is working his way into the year and has proven time and time again that he is capable of taking his game to another level in the postseason. Russell Westbrook has found a way to be productive without getting in the way, Christian Braun has taken a huge step forward to fill the void left by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Porter Jr has had his best season in the league, while Aaron Gordon remains an important piece of the puzzle when healthy. Defensively this team is not particularly good and that will likely remain the case, but they have the offensive potential to trouble any team on their day. The Nuggets are not all that different to the side they were when they won the championship two years ago – the main difference now is how many far more well-rounded teams there are in the league now compared to then. But no side will be thrilled at the prospect of facing the Nuggets in the playoff, and with the best player in the world running the show they look like decent value at long odds.

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. The Nuggets have no long-term injuries to major players at the minute, with Westbrook and Peyton Watson both dealing with minor issues.

Bet on the Dallas Mavericks to win the 2024-25 NBA Championship at $17.00 with PlayUp

Los Angeles Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers had quietly been going about a pretty good season, but in an instant, everything has changed – and whether it’s for better or worse remains to be seen. This has long been a team centred around LeBron James and Anthony Davis, with Austin Reaves a valuable third banana, and while LeBron continues to defy Father Time like no one before, Davis has long needed to be the man for this team to compete for a title. In the blink of an eye, however, he is gone, traded to Dallas alongside Max Christie. Of course, in return, the Lakers got something pretty handy. So how will they fare with Luka Doncic partnering with LeBron instead of Anthony Davis? Bookies seem divided, but by and large the prevailing view is that they are the winners of this shocking trade – if not now then certainly in the future.

As for this season, it will be fascinating to see how this team fares over its remainder. On the face of it, they look a lot more unbalanced with AD gone. In Doncic they have a top three or four player in the league now, but they are looking very defensively flimsy and will have virtually nothing in the form of an interior presence at either end of the floor. The ball will have to be shared around between three very capable ball-handlers in Doncic, James and Reaves, and Doncic will probably need to get accustomed to being a little less ball-dominant than he was in Dallas. But expect him to still be the guy running the show more often than not, particularly given LeBron’s underrated ability as an off-ball player and Reaves’ adaptability. There’s no getting around the fact that this team will probably be really poor defensively, but at the other end of the floor there is no limit for a side with this much talent. Doncic and LeBron, with Reaves playing third fiddle, is a potentially mouth-watering combination, and they’ve still got a couple of months to figure out how it will all work before the playoffs. It is not out of the realms of possibility that this new incarnation of the Lakers doesn’t quite fit together this season and fails relatively miserably, but on the other side of the coin, their ceiling may well have risen, and the best-case scenario for them is pretty damn good.

What brings them here? Well…the Doncic trade? The Lakers were already a solid team, and after the Davis/Doncic trade they could feasibly be quite a lot better, or quite a lot worse.

What could hold them back? Cohesion and defence. Bringing in one of the most ball-dominant players in the league to a team with a couple of ball-handlers already – one of whom is LeBron James – will invariably see some teething issues. The Lakers will also probably struggle defensively, which isn’t typically a hallmark of championship teams.

Injury report. New Laker Luka Doncic (sounds weird, doesn’t it?) is now the team’s biggest injury concern, though it was reported prior to the trade that he was tracking for a pre-All-Star break return.

Bet on the Los Angeles Lakers to win the 2024-25 NBA Championship at $17.00 with Unibet

Memphis Grizzlies

Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizzlies are humming along pretty nicely. At the time of writing, they have the second best record in the Western Conference and the third best in the league, and having won nine of their last ten games are the in-form team in the NBA. What’s more, they have done that with Ja Morant in and out of the team through injury and not at anything close to his best when he has been out there. It’s a testament to coach Taylor Jenkins that this team is playing as well as it is – Jaren Jackson Jr is having the best season of his career, but that aside, Morant is certainly not, Desmond Bane has been down on his usual production, and they are starting two rookies.

This is not exactly a team littered with elite talent – certainly not to the extent of some of the other top teams – and a lot of the talent that they do have has either not been particularly available, or not as productive as they have been in the past. But for all that, the Grizzlies rank in the top seven in the league in both offensive and defensive rating, and are bettered for net rating by only the Celtics, Thunder and Cavaliers. It’s hard to see them beating any of those teams in a seven-game series, but in the Grizzlies favour is the fact that they theoretically have plenty of scope for improvement if Morant and Bane find some continuity and form, and they do look likely to secure a high seed in a competitive Western Conference. I certainly wouldn’t be backing them to win the championship even at long odds, but they deserve credit for their performance so far this season and are every chance to win a couple of playoff series and put themselves in the mix.

What brings them here? The Grizzlies have been up and down throughout the Ja Morant/Jaren Jackson Jr era, but appear set to secure a high seed again this season after failing to make the playoffs with Morant absent for most of last season.

What could hold them back? Probably a lack of talent. Morant has the potential to be one of the best players in the league but hasn’t been playing like it this season, while Jackson Jr is a dominant defender and increasingly capable offensive talent. Bane is a good player too, but none of those stars are top ten players and their roster falls away a bit thereafter too.

Injury report. Both Brandon Clarke and Desmond Bane have missed a couple of games in early February through back and ankle soreness respectively, but neither of those is a long-term issue. Marcus Smart has been out for an extended period with a finger injury but appears to be aiming for a February return.

Bet on the Memphis Grizzlies to win the 2024-25 NBA Championship at $26.00 with Unibet

Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks must be right up there as one of the most frustrating teams in the league to support. The 2021 champions hoped that trading in Damian Lillard for Jrue Holiday at the beginning of last season would extend their window, but a year and a half into the experiment, it’s not exactly working out. Theoretically this can still be a good team – any side led by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard has that potential – and even though they are not exactly flushed with depth, a fit Khris Middleton (if such a thing still exists) and Brook Lopez provide decent third and fourth options. At times, things have looked to be finally coming together – after a couple of losses to start the calendar year, the Bucks won nine of 11 to fly into fourth spot in the Eastern Conference.

But just as quickly, it all fell apart. A 13-point loss to the Blazers was followed by a 26-point drubbing at the hands of the Spurs, a 13-point loss to the Grizzlies, and finally a 29-point defeat to the Thunder in which they scored a woeful nine points in the final quarter. Giannis and Lillard didn’t play the last of those so we can’t read too much into it, but they did in the previous three and the Bucks were still getting pumped by some pretty average teams. An early exit for Milwaukee this postseason is very much on the cards and change would no doubt be in the wings if that eventuates, but on the flip side of the coin, the best version of this team is really good. A championship seems a hell of a long way away right now and they probably won’t get near it, but with Giannis and Lillard leading the way, a big turnaround for this team can never be fully ruled out. I certainly don’t think they will win the championship by any means, but at long odds they aren’t the worst bet and could easily shorten if they hit a strong patch of form.

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? Maybe they just aren’t that good? The Bucks have plenty of talent, but so far this season they are thoroughly average at both ends of the floor.

Injury report. The Bucks recently put out an injury report which included Antetokounmpo, Lillard, Middleton, Lopez and Bobby Portis for that Thunder game – literally their five best players. Fortunately they are not long-term injuries, though Middleton appears likely to be managing his ankles, knees and whatever else for the rest of his career.

Bet on the Milwaukee Bucks to win the 2024-25 NBA Championship at $29.00 with PlayUp

Our Prediction

It’s still the Celtics. The two-horse race which this market has been for months endures, and for good reason, with Boston and OKC clearly the best two teams in the business. There is still plenty of water to go under the bridge before the NBA Finals and there are plenty of really, really good teams in both Conferences that are capable of at the very least pushing those two to the limit in a seven-game series, but they are the runaway favourites for very good reason. I fully expect the Celtics and Thunder to be fighting it out in what would be a pulsating NBA Finals, but the Celtics have experience that the Thunder do not, and with those two teams now side by side in the betting, the reigning champs look like the better bet.

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NBA Finals Stats

SeasonNBA Finals WinnerRunner Up
2023-2024Boston CelticsDallas Mavericks
2022-2023Denver NuggetsMiami Heat
2021-2022Golden State WarriorsBoston Celtics
2020-2021Milwaukee BucksPhoenix Suns
2019-2020Los Angeles LakersMiami Heat
2018-2019Toronto RaptorsGolden State Warriors
2017-2018Golden State WarriorsCleveland Cavaliers
2016-2017Golden State WarriorsCleveland Cavaliers
2015-2016Cleveland CavaliersGolden State Warriors
2014-2015Golden State WarriorsCleveland Cavaliers
2013-2014San Antonio SpursMiami Heat
2012-2013Miami HeatSan Antonio Spurs

Most NBA Championships

TeamNBA championships
Boston Celtics18
Los Angeles Lakers17
Golden State Warriors7
Chicago Bulls6
San Antonio Spurs5
Philadelphia 76ers3
Detroit Pistons3
Miami Heat3
New York Knicks2
Houston Rockets2

James is a sports writer from Melbourne, and has contributed to a variety of publications covering a range of sports including basketball, cricket, Australian Rules, golf and surfing to name a few. An avid fan of all of the above and more, James’ downtime is spent falling ungracefully off his surfboard, turning over footies and playing an out of tune guitar.

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