Filip Tomic
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The tip-off for the 2024-25 NBA season is almost upon us and we couldn’t be more excited to bring you our NBA predictions ahead of the new season. A ring ceremony is scheduled for opening night in Boston on as Jayson Tatum and company hang banner number 18 in what should be an emotional night at TD Garden. The team the Celtics beat in the NBA Finals last season, Dallas, made some interesting moves during the summer, but according to the oddsmakers are not good enough to make it into the top 5 favorites to win the elusive Larry O’Brien trophy.
There is never a shortage of storylines coming into a new season and this one is no exception: can a team win back-to-back championships for the first time in 6 seasons? How will the NBA’s new big 3 in Philadelphia co-exist? With Karl-Anthony Towns out of Minnesota, can Anthony Edwards finally blossom into one of the elite NBA players? LeBron James and Bronny James will become the first ever father and son duo in NBA history to play on the same team, but how will that work? Is the Golden State Warriors’ championship window closed?
The new season tips off at TD Garden on Tuesday, with the defending champions Celtics hosting the New York Knicks on TNT. The 2nd game of the night will feature the LA Lakers taking on last season’s Western Conference Finalists, the Minnesota Timberwolves. Along with these NBA championship predictions, be sure to check out our detailed NBA analysis for the 2024-2025 season, as well as our NBA picks for all the biggest matchups. But for now, let’s get into my best bet and longshot prediction to win the 2024-2025 NBA title, along with a look at the latest NBA Championship odds.
2024-25 NBA Championship betting odds and favorites
Odds courtesy of Fanatics Sportsbook and available at time of publishing.
- Boston Celtics +320
- Oklahoma City Thunder +650
- New York Knicks +750
- Philadelphia 76ers +1000
- Minnesota Timberwolves +1000
- Denver Nuggets: +1100
- Dallas Mavericks +1100
- Milwaukee Bucks +1400
- Phoenix Suns +2000
- LA Lakers +4000
- Golden State Warriors +4500
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2025 NBA Championship winner best bet: Boston Celtics (+320)
There is no team in the NBA as stacked as the Boston Celtics heading into the 2024-25 NBA season. What Boston did last season was nothing short of amazing. They finished the regular season with one of the highest Net Ratings of all time, a 64-18 record and then proceeded to go 16-3 in the NBA Playoffs to win their 18th title in franchise history, overtaking the LA Lakers atop of the all-time standings. They are once again the favorites to run away with it, but can they become the first team since the 2017-18 Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant-led Warriors to repeat as NBA champions?
I believe they can be. With no major offseason moves done, their core remains together for at least one more season. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are still very much in the prime of their careers and eager to prove themselves. After not getting an invite to the Olympics this past summer, NBA Finals MVP Brown will be extra motivated this time around. Head coach Joe Mazzulla will once again have role players like Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Payton Pritchard and Al Horford at his disposal, making the Celtics one of the deeper rosters in the NBA. The only concern is the health of Kristaps Porzingis, who will miss the first 6 months of the season with his knee injury, but then again, Boston went 10-2 in the postseason without him.
Even though teams like the Knicks and 76ers have made moves to improve their roster in the offseason, this team is still head and shoulders above the competition. They have one of the most balanced rosters in the league when healthy and I just cannot see anyone dethroning them at this point, unless a catastrophic injury happens. My 2024-25 NBA Championship best bet is for the Boston Celtics to repeat at +320 odds.
2025 NBA Championship winner longshot pick: Denver Nuggets (+1100)
It feels weird calling the Denver Nuggets a longshot bet to win the NBA championship, but after the sub-par season they had last year, they are no longer one of the frontrunners according to the oddsmakers. I’m not yet ready to give up on this team though — as long as Nikola Jokic is at the helm they are more than capable of going all the way. Despite all the injury problems they encountered, this team still finished last season in a 3-way tie for the number one seed in the Western Conference and was just 1 win away from making it back to the Western Conference Finals. Sure, teams like the Thunder and Mavericks have made moves this offseason, but I feel like the Nuggets will have a lot to say in the West this year.
Jamal Murray didn’t have the best of showings at the Olympics for Team Canada, but he was rewarded with a contract extension this offseason which should motivate him to get back to where he was prior to all his injuries. Russell Westbrook comes in to take over some of the point-guard responsibilities and maybe lighten the load a bit off Jokic when it comes to ball handling. Three-point shooting is what plagued this team last season — they were in the bottom 5 of the NBA in that department. However, the addition of Westbrook should increase the ball movement quite a lot so I’m looking at them to improve in that area. The math is quite easy for the Nuggets – when Jokic sat they posted a -8.4 points per possession differential, but this is nothing new, the 3-time MVP has been (successfully) dragging this team on his shoulders for the past 6 seasons.
Only once in those past 6 seasons did the Nuggets not win 63% of their regular-season games and that was in the 2021-22 season when Murray was out dealing with his ACL injury. Heading into this season, the Nuggets have a lot to prove and I just feel like the moves they made in the offseason combined with their experience could propel them to yet another NBA Finals berth. Depending on who they meet there, they could very well go all the way. My 2024-25 NBA Championship longshot pick is the Denver Nuggets at +1100 odds.
