With the NBA All-Star break in the rear-view mirror, we are two-thirds through the 2024-25 regular season.
That makes it the perfect time to break down the current NBA title and MVP odds. New customers looking to make an NBA futures wager can take advantage of the welcome promo offers at our top-rated sports betting sites and collect up to $6,350 in bonuses.
NBA futures odds: Celtics, Thunder, Cavaliers are top title favorites
Only three teams have 12-1-or-better NBA championship odds as we approach March.
Topping the list is Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and the defending-champion Boston Celtics, who are second in the Eastern Conference at 39-16.
The Beantown crew has held that position all season and had top sportsbook-consensus odds of +208 as of Monday. The best-value Celtics odds (+235) could be found at DraftKings Sportsbook.
The Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder (44-10), however, is hot on Boston’s heels with +213 consensus championship odds as of Monday. OKC’s best odds were +225 at a number of leading sportsbooks, including bet365 and BetMGM Sportsbooks.
The best value, though, of the current top five might be the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers (44-10), who are 5.5 games ahead of the Celtics coming out of the All-Star break.
The Cavs, however, were a distant third on NBA title oddsboards at a consensus +738, with the lowest odds (+900) to be found at FanDuel Sportsbook.
The New York Knicks (36-18), sitting at a consensus +1300, and the Denver Nuggets (36-19, +1350) rounded out the top five with both teams holding down third place in their respective conferences coming out of the break.
Finally, two teams to keep an eye on are the West’s fifth-place Los Angeles Lakers (32-20, consensus +1600) and second-place Memphis Grizzlies (36-18, +3075).
The Lakers jumped into the top five after the stunning trade for Luka Doncic earlier this month and are the biggest NBA title ticket liability at BetMGM, the sportsbook reported Monday.
NBA futures odds: OKC’s Gilgeous-Alexander emerges as strong MVP favorite
The race for the 2024-25 NBA MVP award is a two-man derby between a pair of Northwest Division rivals.
Guard and current league scoring leader Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (32.5 points per game) of the Thunder finished second in last season’s MVP voting behind Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic.
But it was SGA, as of Monday, who led the way with consensus -500 MVP odds while Jokic, who has won three of the past four MVP awards, was a distant second at +320.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s best odds could be found at FanDuel (-440) as of Monday while Jokic’s best-value repeat price of +350 could be found at DraftKings and bet365.
Next on most NBA MVP boards is Giannis Antetokounmpo. But the Milwaukee Bucks center was far off the pace at +12500 odds at BetMGM.
Tutum (+30000), San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (+30000) and Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns (+50000) rounded out BetMGM’s top five as of Monday.
BetMGM added that SGA had attracted the highest percentage (28.5) of the sportsbook’s 24-25 NBA MVP handle while Jokic appeared on the highest percentage (16.2) of tickets.
