NBA odds to win 2025 championship after free agency: Celtics still favorties, Warriors drop
The NBA is looking much different than it did a week ago. The Boston Celtics remain the favorite to repeat, but free agency has shaken up the odds.
The NBA is looking a whole lot different than it did just a week ago and the odds for next year’s champion have shifted as some of the top players in the league are on the move. The Boston Celtics are still favorites to repeat as NBA Champions, but behind them there has been a major shake up in contenders to knock them off their throne.
How the odds were stacked pre free agency
Over the last week we have seen some teams sore up the odds board thanks to some key singings that have shifted the scales in the league. If we look at the odds right after the Celtics won the title to the current odds today, July 7th you can see teams rise and fall depending on the players that they brought in, or didn’t bring in during the offseason’s most important week.
Since the Celtics won their 18th title at the end of last month we have seen the NBA Draft and the free agent market. While most of the players around the league are either gearing up for the Olympics or enjoying some much needed rest and relaxation, the front offices of all 30 teams have been working tirelessly to prepare their rosters for next season.
In the wake of Boston’s title, we saw the Celtics top the charts in Draft Kings official odds board with the Denver Nuggets picked as second favorites to regain their title as champions of the NBA. The one seed in this year’s Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder, were third on the list while the Western Conference representatives in the NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks sat outside the Top 5, behind the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Post free agency odds
Free agency has since brought a power shift in both conferences as some of the biggest names in the league have left their teams to go chase titles, or money or both. Paul George was one of the biggest headliners, signing a four year deal worth $211 million dollars with the Philadelphia 76ers. He will now join Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid on a team that spiraled down the Eastern Conference after Embiid went down with injury. They have gone from +1200 to +800 and they are now the second favorites bring a long awaited title back to Philly.
The Thunder made a big move, bringing in Isaiah Hartenstein from New York and while their odds are still great they did drop from +800 to +850 because of the move by the Sixers. The Nuggets have now dropped to fourth after a relatively stagnate free agency period that saw Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ship off to Florida.
The runners up of the NBA Finals have dropped from sixth favorite (+900) to seventh (+1000), despite bringing in Klay Thompson from the Golden State Warriors. The New York Knicks signed OG Aninoby to a huge five year deal worth $212 million and that has bumped them up from eighth (+1400) to fifth (+950).
The Milwaukee Bucks didn’t do much of anything in free agency and that has dropped them out of the top five (+850) down to eighth (+1100). No team dropped more than the Golden State Warriors who were ninth favorites (+1800) to 14th (+4000) after losing Klay Thompson and failing to replace the four time champ.
These odds are obviously going to change as more moves are made, and when the season starts we will get a better idea of which teams are going to be real contenders and which teams are going to be pretenders.