While there’s a ton of attention for sports fans because of the football season being back, keep in mind that soon enough the National Basketball Association will be back as well. It was a memorable season in 2024-25 and more excitement will be on the way soon enough with the campaign around the corner. With that said, BetOnline has the OKC Thunder as big favorites to win the 2026 NBA Finals.
Anyone surprised by this? Oklahoma City was brilliant last year, winning the franchise’s first NBA Finals title ever. Some people count it as the second title since the Seattle SuperSonics, who OKC bought, previously won it. Regardless of that, Chet Holmgren, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and others are still riding high from getting the job done and they’re excited to try to repeat.
| NBA Finals odds |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thunder to win | +210 | +210 | +210 |
| Cavs to win | +550 | +550 | +550 |
| Knicks to win | +950 | +950 | +950 |
| Nuggets to win | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
“It’s hard to believe that I’m part of that group,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after he was named the 2025 NBA Finals MVP. “It’s hard to even fathom that I’m that type of basketball player sometimes. As a kid, you dream. Every kid dreams. But you don’t ever really know if it’s going to come true. I’m just glad and happy that my dreams have been able to come true.”
According to BetOnline and the other best betting sites, Oklahoma City has been given +210 NBA Finals betting odds to repeat as the champs this year. Those are pretty strong odds and it has a lot of people talking. It will be interesting to see how things will go down this year, but it won’t be a surprise if OKC pulls things off. With that said, we’re going in a different direction for our title winners.
Call it a hunch, but the New York Knicks are our pick to win the 2026 NBA Finals. Last season, the Knicks once again fell short of the ultimate goal, losing to the Pacers in the postseason. Indiana then went on to the NBA Finals, but they lost to the Thunder in Game 7. While Indiana is hoping to make a splash in the Eastern Conference again, a lot of eyes are going to be on the Knicks.
Will this be the year that Jalen Brunson can lead the NY side to the glory? That’s what a lot of people have on their minds, as he hasn’t quite gotten the Knicks over the hump. Brunson has been known for putting together some brilliant performances at Madison Square Garden, but people are hopeful that he can get this team to the Finals sooner rather than later.
“I go into the summer every year looking back on how I could be better as a player, to be the most complete player I can be,” Brunson said after the loss to Indiana. “There’s obviously going to be a lot of things, X’s and O’s-wise, physically and other stuff I could do to be better. I think the most important thing that I need to do is to continue to just strive for perfection, just strive for perfection, and knowing that I’m never going to get there.”
BetOnline and the other NBA betting sites have given the Knicks +950 odds to win the NBA Finals this year. That’s nowhere close to Oklahoma City, we get it. With that said, Brunson and Co. have high hopes for this season and Karl-Anthony Towns should be in for a big year too. Will that all be enough for the Knicks to do the unthinkable? We think so.
Elsewhere, keep in mind too that the Cavs, Nuggets and Lakers also hold strong odds to win the NBA Finals this year. Cleveland, led of course by Donovan Mitchell, was expected to push for the title last year, but they let everyone down in the playoffs. Cleveland had the No. 1 seed, but to put things simply, they blew it in the postseason, which no one saw coming.
As for the Nuggets, they’re always going to be a threat to go on a deep run because of how stacked they are offensively. Nikola Jokic is without question one of the best players in the NBA and he’s going to play at an elite level once again next season. Denver is considered the top contender in the Western Conference to potentially take down OKC in the playoffs. The NBA Finals betting sites have been Denver +1000 odds.
Last but not least, you can never forget about the Lakers because of the one and only LeBron James. James is arguably the best player of all time and he doesn’t have much time left in his career. LA would love nothing more than to send him out in style with one last ring, but that’s not going to be easy. Despite that, James has what it takes to prove everyone wrong once again this upcoming season.
About the Author
Braulio Perez has been writing about sports professionally since graduating from Washington State in 2011. A fan of all major leagues in the USA, he’s also a supporter of the English Premier League and international soccer.
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