202526 NBA Finals odds: Thunder enter season as biggest title favorites since Kevin DurantSteph Curry Warriors Ben Fawkes October 21, 2025 at 1:45 AM 0 The Oklahoma City Thunder are fresh off a dominant 6814 regular season and their first NBA championship, defeating the Indiana Pacers in seven games...
- - 2025-26 NBA Finals odds: Thunder enter season as biggest title favorites since Kevin Durant-Steph Curry Warriors
Ben Fawkes October 21, 2025 at 1:45 AM
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The Oklahoma City Thunder are fresh off a dominant 68-14 regular season and their first NBA championship, defeating the Indiana Pacers in seven games, and oddsmakers aren't expecting any drop-off this season from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander & Co.
Oklahoma City opened as +240 back in June at BetMGM and enters the season at that same price.
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Those are the shortest preseason odds for any NBA team since the 2018-19 Golden Warriors — led by Steph Curry and Kevin Durant — were an odds-on -168 title favorite, per Sports Odds History. Golden State ended up making its fifth straight NBA Finals appearance, but lost to Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors after both Durant and Klay Thompson were injured during the postseason run.
Not only do the Thunder still have all the main pieces of a roster that was an analytics darling, but they will also add 2024 first-round pick Nikola Topić, who missed all of last season recovering from a torn ACL.
Here's everything you for the 2025-26 season. (Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports Illustration) ((Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports Illustration))
The Thunder have the third-most bets (9.4%) and total dollars wagered (11.0%) to win the title at BetMGM, but it's the second-choice Denver Nuggets (+550) who have the most bets (16%), followed by the Los Angeles Lakers (16-1).
"We took some play on the Nuggets at +800," Jeff Sherman, vice president of risk at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, told Yahoo Sports. "I had made an adjustment down from 16-1 after their good offseason, but we're now at +650. The Lakers are getting their typical support, sitting by far No. 1 in ticket count."
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The Nuggets had the most total dollars wagered at The SuperBook, followed by the New York Knicks and Lakers. Denver's preseason title odds (+550) are tied for the franchise's best since 1984 with the 2023-24 team, per Sports Odds History.
The Golden State Warriors (28-1) represent the biggest liability of any team currently at BetMGM.
Coming off a trip to the Eastern Conference finals, it's no surprise the New York Knicks (+900) have taken a lot of action at sportsbooks.
"As long as the Knicks are successful, they'll continue to be bet," Johnny Avello, sportsbook director at DraftKings, told Yahoo Sports. "The Lakers we take money on regardless of the makeup of the team."
The Eastern Conference is generally viewed as more wide open than the past few years, as the Boston Celtics (60-1) won't have star Jayson Tatum for most — if not all — of the regular season. As a result the Celtics have their worst title odds since 2015.
"From a bookmaker standpoint, we don't believe they can win it all," Avello noted. "We've pretty much priced in that [Tatum's] not playing. He wouldn't have enough of the season [if he came back], plus everyone else would have to stay healthy"
The Milwaukee Bucks (55-1) waived and stretched Damian Lillard and have to withstand trade speculation surrounding star Giannis Antetokounmpo, resulting in their longest preseason title odds since 2018.
The Atlanta Hawks have been the biggest preseason mover in the championship market, going from 250-1 odds to 40-1 at BetMGM.
Source: "AOL Sports"
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