NBA Championship Winner Odds & MVP Betting 2024/25

As with any other sport, an NBA Futures bet is simply a wager on a basketball event that will happen at a later date.

It’s possible to wager on a NBA Futures market at anytime, but the sportsbooks will adjust the odds over the course of the season depending on results and other relevant news such as injuries and any draft moves.

In general, an early Futures bet will generally give you bigger odds, but come with greater risk (the uncertainty of how events will unfold before the wager is settled). As soon as one NBA season ends, there will be Futures bets available on the next one.

NBA teams begin training in late September following the summer break, which also enables coaches to determine their 12-man active roster to start the regular season.

The NBA regular season begins mid-October and usually ends around mid-April.

The NBA playoffs begin shortly after the end of the regular season.

The NBA consists of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) who are split into two Conferences of 15 teams each and six Divisions of five teams each.

During the regular season, each team plays 82 games (global pandemics notwithstanding), consisting of 41 home games and 41 away.

Each team faces opponents in its own division four times a season (16 games) and faces six of the teams from the other two divisions in its Conference four times (24 games) and the remaining four teams three times (12 games). In addition, each team then plays all the teams in the other Conference twice each (30 games).

The top eight teams in each Conference (regardless of final Divisional positions) qualify for the end of season playoffs, with seeds assigned in strict order of regular season records.

The playoffs are then split into separate Eastern and Western Conferences, with the top seed in each playing the eighth seed, the second seed will play the seventh seed, etc.

The team in each series with the better regular season record has home court advantage in a best-of-seven series (with the first team to win four games advancing to the next round).

The best-of-7 series follows a 2–2–1–1–1 home-court pattern, with one team having home court in games 1, 2, 5, and 7, while the other plays at home in games 3, 4, and 6.

When the winners of both Conferences have been decided, the two remaining teams go forward to the NBA Finals (usually taking place in June), which is again played over a best-of-seven series..

The Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics are the most successful teams by some distance in regards to NBA Championship title wins, with 17 each.

Los Angeles Lakers – 17
Boston Celtics – 17
Golden State Warriors – 6
Chicago Bulls – 6
San Antonio Spurs - 5

The leading NBA players at present include LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Luka Doncic, James Harden, Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard.

The Golden State Warriors are the opening favorites to successfully defend the NBA Championship. Other leading contenders according to the betting odds, are the Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, and Denver Nuggets.

With sportsbooks always looking to attract new customers, many of them use the incentive of sign-up bonuses in the form of free betting credits once you have made your first deposit. These are a great way to have a risk-free bet on the NBA season.

As with any sport, researching previous results is a good guide when looking at NBA Futures betting. A hot streak one season might not be repeated, but check any player trades and look for teams with an improving core of young players on their roster.

There’s always a great and varied range of NBA Future bets available. In addition to selecting the NBA Championship outright winner, other markets to look at include picking the winners of the Eastern and Western Conferences.

You can also wager on the winners of the individual Divisions – Atlantic, Central, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest and Pacific.

On an individual level, there are also futures bets on offer for the Regular Season MVP, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Most Improved Player.

It’s also possible to wager on any of the teams to reach the playoffs.