A new NBA season is in the making right now, as we are less than two weeks away from the start of the NBA championship. The Boston Celtics are the defending champions, having beaten the Dallas Mavericks in five games in the 2024 NBA finals, and they are the clear favorites to win back-to-back titles.
The 2024–25 National Basketball League schedule has been released ahead of the start of the season. The regular season will kick off on October 22, 2024, and end on April 13, 2025. The Boston Celtics will host the New York Knicks in an exciting opening matchup this year, while the Los Angeles Lakers will also face the Minnesota Timberwolves later that day.
This will be the second year to have the Emirates NBA Cup competition during the season, as the Los Angeles Lakers won the first edition. There will be a lot of interesting prospects entering this season from the NBA draft, like Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr, and Reed Sheppard. Bronny James is another anticipated talent, as he and LeBron James are set to be the first father-son duo in league history.
| ℹ️ Tournament: | National Basketball League (NBA) 2023-24 Season |
| 🏀 Venues: | Basketball arenas across the United States and Canada |
| 🗓️ Dates: | 24 October 2023 – 14 April 2024 |
Here’s a look at the 2025 NBA Finals winner odds from the best NBA 24/25 odds sites:
There’s no doubt that the Boston Celtics are the team to beat this season. They have the best roster in the league, especially after extending the contracts of Jayson Tatum and Derrick White successfully, in addition to signing Lonnie Walker IV in free agency. The Celtics won 64 games in the 23/24 regular season, which is the most by any team in the league in the last six years.
The Oklahoma City Thunder surprised everyone last season by finishing on top of the Western Conference. They were the 19th favorites going into the 23/24 NBA season, but they took a huge boost this time to be the second favorites to win their second-ever title. The New York Knicks have been one of the most active teams in the off-season, adding great players like Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns, so they will have great winning chances.
The Philadelphia 76ers will always have a shot to win the title when Joel Embiid is healthy. They have added some great players to help him this year, so it will be interesting to see how that goes. The Minnesota Timberwolves are coming off their second-ever Western Conference Finals, but they failed to reach their first NBA Finals. Anthony Edwards is coming off his best year in his career, but they traded away Karl-Anthony Towns and Kyle Anderson, so it won’t be any easier for them.
The NBA consists of 30 teams that are split equally into the Eastern and Western Conferences. Each team plays a total of 82 games in the regular season, as the top six teams from each conference qualify directly for the playoffs, while teams from 7th to 10th participate in the play-in tournament fighting for the last two spots.
The 2024 NBA Draft was held on June 26 and 27, and it had some amazing talents, as usual. Paul George moving to the Sixers has got to be one of the most important moves this off-season, while Mikal Bridges moving to the Knicks isn’t any less impressive. Klay Thompson also left the Warriors after 13 years with the team to join the Mavericks.
Here are the NBA Eastern Conference participants and their predicted places after the regular season ends:
| Eastern Conference Participants | Predicted Finish after Regular Season |
|---|---|
| Boston Celtics* | 1st |
| New York Knicks* | 2nd |
| Milwaukee Bucks* | 3rd |
| Philadelphia 76ers* | 4th |
| Cleveland Cavaliers* | 5th |
| Orlando Magic* | 6th |
| Indiana Pacers* | 7th |
| Miami Heat* | 8th |
| Chicago Bulls | 9th |
| Atlanta Hawks | 10th |
| Toronto Raptors | 11th |
| Brooklyn Nets | 12th |
| Charlotte Hornets | 13th |
| Detroit Pistons | 14th |
| Washington Wizards | 15th |
* Teams that will proceed to the playoffs.
These are the NBA Western Conference participants and their predicted places after the regular season ends:
| Western Conference Participants | Predicted Finish after Regular Season |
|---|---|
| Denver Nuggets* | 1st |
| Oklahoma City Thunder* | 2nd |
| Dallas Mavericks* | 3rd |
| Minnesota Timberwolves* | 4th |
| Phoenix Suns* | 5th |
| Golden State Warriors* | 6th |
| New Orleans Pelicans* | 7th |
| Memphis Grizzlies* | 8th |
| Los Angeles Lakers | 9th |
| Sacramento Kings | 10th |
| Los Angeles Clippers | 11th |
| Houston Rockets | 12th |
| San Antonio Spurs | 13th |
| Utah Jazz | 14th |
| Portland Trail Blazers | 15th |
* Teams that will proceed to the playoffs.
The NBA playoffs consist of 16 teams fighting for the championship, as it works with the best-of-seven series. The winners of the Eastern and Western Conferences face each other in the NBA Finals. The 24-25 playoffs will kick off on April 19, while the 2025 NBA Finals are set to start on June 6.
This will be the 79th season of the National Basketball League. The Boston Celtics have the most championships (18) after winning the title last season, while the Los Angeles Lakers still have 17 titles. The Golden State Warriors come after that with seven championships, while the Chicago Bulls have six titles. This season will have the second edition of the NBA Cup, whose semifinals and finals will be played in Las Vegas.
Here is how the last five NBA finals have unfolded:
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The best NCAA baseball sportsbooks have the Knicks as the second favorite to win the title. They are coming off their best year in the last two decades with a 50-32 regular-season record, and they have only gotten better after the addition of Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns. Jalen Brunson has been fantastic for the team for a while now, while OG Anunoby and Josh Hart will be important pieces for their success this season.
There is no value in the Boston Celtics before the start of the season while betting on the New York Knicks makes a lot of sense with such enticing odds. The Knicks won both of their pre-season games so far and looked great.
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The Milwaukee Bucks had the third-best record in the Eastern Conference last season, with 49 wins and 33 losses. They didn’t have a lot of chemistry between the players last year, especially after acquiring Damian Lillard in the biggest trade of the season. The Bucks have improved a lot lately and are expected to improve more, as the additions of Gary Trent Jr. and Taurean Prince will give them more shooting options.
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This bet has one of the best online basketball betting sites odds offered this season, as the 2023 NBA champions have great odds to win the Northwest Division. Nikola Jokic is still the best player in the league, winning the NBA MVP Award in three of the last four years. The Nuggets were tied for the best record in the whole Western Conference last season, so if Jamal Murray steps up for the team again, they should win their division.
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The Dallas Mavericks won the Southwest Division last season and even reached the NBA Finals, so they have even more experience now to win the division even easier than last time. The duo of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving is scary, as they were the league’s highest-scoring duo last season, and they have better role players right now as well after signing Klay Thompson, Quentin Grimes, and Spencer Dinwiddie.
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The Toronto Raptors are still in a rebuilding period and don’t have a lot of expectations right now. They lost 19 of their last 21 games to end last season in 12th place in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors had a 25-57 record in the 23/24 season, and they haven’t had any big signings to improve on that. They most likely are getting into another disappointing season with this poor form.
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The competition in the Western Conference is really tough, as always, as the Kings have only qualified for the playoffs once in the last 17 years. We think that the Sacramento Kings aren’t better than the Memphis Grizzlies or the New Orleans Pelicans, which will most likely be fighting for the late playoff spots. The Kings need a lot of work defensively to have a decent chance to qualify for the postseason.
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Luka Doncic always shines in the regular season, as he was the scoring leader last year and finished second in the 22/23 season as well. Doncic averaged 33.9 points per game last season, while his closest rivals averaged 30.4 points. Luka is also on top of the 24/25 NBA MVP odds, so the bookies expect him to keep up his exceptional form this season as well.
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Victor Wembanyama won the 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year Award, as we predicted before the season. The Frenchman had very impressive stats in his rookie year, but he has a lot more to show and should improve even more this season. The San Antonio Spurs will depend more on him as well after proving himself last season, so we hope the Frenchman will impress and win the NBA Most Improved Player Award this year.
The New York Knicks are on a mission now to win the trophy after five decades of absence, and we expect them to do well after their off-season moves. Make sure to use our 2024-25 NBA season predictions and bet them at the best basketball sportsbooks to have more fun watching the event.
