NBA Finals odds: Oklahoma City Thunder ‘overwhelming favourites’ to retain NBA title

• Ladbrokes looks at the NBA Finals winner odds now that the 2025/26 season has begun.

• Oklahoma City Thunder favourites to retain their title

• Nuggets, Cavaliers, Knicks among the frontrunners

The new NBA season is now underway, and Ladbrokes has updated its NBA Finals winner odds for 2025/26. The Oklahoma City Thunder are just 12/5 with Ladbrokes to win a second straight NBA championship.

The Thunder’s chances of going back-to-back improved after they signed league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and stars Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren to new deals. Now that the season has started, their nearest rivals in the betting are the Denver Nuggets (11/2) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (7/1).

The reigning champions entered the 2025/26 season as favourites at 12/5 to defend their crown, with OKC keeping the core of their championship-winning team together, and that remained the case coming out of the first game.

The Thunder stormed to a 68-14 record in the regular season last year, setting the all-time record for points differential.

Their closest rivals are the Denver Nuggets at 11/2, who lost 4-3 to Oklahoma City in the Western Conference semi-finals. Denver's hopes will again rest on three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, who's the early frontrunner to win the award again.

The Cleveland Cavaliers fell short again in the playoffs last year after finishing with the best record (64-18) in the Eastern Conference and are 7/1 to win their second NBA title. The New York Knicks (10/1) fired coach Tom Thibodeau after their loss in the East finals, with the belief that a starting five including Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns is championship-calibre.

Anthony Edwards is the next face of the league and his Minnesota Timberwolves are a contender at 18/1, while the Houston Rockets (18/1) made a major move by trading for Kevin Durant. It could be LeBron's last year in LA as the Lakers look to build around Luka Doncic, and they're slightly shorter at 16/1 to go all the way.

Cal Gildart of Ladbrokes said: “OKC’s superstars are back in town, and it means the second-youngest championship team in league history are the overwhelming favourites to lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy for a second year running.”

Last season's runners-up Indiana Pacers enjoyed a magical playoff run before coming up short in Game 7 of the Finals. There'll always be the question of what could have been if not for Tyrese Haliburton's devastating achilles injury early in that game, and the Pacers are 125/1 to win a championship as their star continues to recover, down from 100/1 before the season.

The Boston Celtics, winners in 2024, will also be missing Jayson Tatum to the same injury. The six-time All-Star is expected to miss the majority of the season, and Boston are going through a rebuild having traded away Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, with their odds of 60/1 reflecting that.

At the other end of the market, three teams are seen as having equal chances at landing the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft, with the Brooklyn Nets, Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards all priced at 1000/1 to win the NBA title.

View the latest basketball odds here.

All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication.