Another thrilling NBA season is well underway, with fans already having pretty clear opinions on who they think will win the Finals this season. The NBA Finals are scheduled to start on June 6 with the seventh game – if needed – on June 23. But who can we expect to see there?
The Boston Celtics Are Going for Title Number 18
The Celtics have been favorites to triumph during large chunks of the season. The reason for this is that they have a great collection of players including Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Despite the loss of Marcus Smart, they’re leading the way in the Atlantic Division and looking in great shape to reach the finals. Xavier Tillman Sr. and Jaden Springer have been added to the roster to aid their defensive rotation options.
You’ll find Boston at odds of around +250 to win the NBA title in 2024. A look at the latest NBA betting odds for upcoming games shows that they are favorites in many of their remaining games. If you don’t want to bet on the Celtics as the outright winner of any game, you can look for prop bets based on areas such as the number of points or assists gained by an individual player. You can also look for alternative bets such as spread bets where the favorite is given a points handicap.
If Boston wins again this season, they’ll surge ahead of long-time rivals The Los Angeles Lakers by collecting their 18th title to date. Their most recent championship win came in 2008, so they’ve waited a long time to get that number 18. Just as you can bet on the FA Cup winner, you can analyze the basketball odds to see which team offers the best value.
The Denver Nuggets Need Jokić to Turn on the Style
Most experts now have the Nuggets as their second favorites to win the NBA title. The form of Nikola Jokić helped them to storm to victory and claim the franchise’s first championship last season. Jokic has been turning up the heat in the last couple of games as Denver looks to finish the regular season strongly.
Their odds currently sit at around +450 and it could be argued that basketball history is against them winning the championship in successive seasons. This is a feat that’s only been carried out eight times in the past, with LeBron James leading the Miami Heat to success in 2013 as the last example of the defending champions winning it again the next year.
The Los Angeles Clippers Are Hoping for Their First Title
At +500 or so to win the NBA title, it’s clear that the Clippers are also among the most hotly-tipped teams this season. This is the oldest franchise in pro American sports to have failed to play in a championship game to date. They’ll be hoping that the upcoming move to their new home at Intuit Dome in Inglewood will signal a new era of success, but can they hope to start the ball rolling on the next phase in their history with a championship win in 2024?
2021 was the first time the Clippers reached their conference finals and this year they’ll be trying to go a step further next season while wearing their new uniforms that were recently revealed. However, this season, the Clippers have the likes of Russell Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard to drive them on. In fact, former NBA champ Kendrick Perkins recently stated that they’re capable of winning the title if they keep their top players fit for the all-important post-season games.
The Milwaukee Bucks Have Two Big Scorers on the Team
The Milwaukee Bucks have two championship wins to their name, coming in 1971 and 2021. Giannis Antetokounmpo is their star player while point guard Damian Lillard joined earlier this season and quickly set a new franchise debut record of 39 points in his first game. After a slow start, the team was forced to fire their coach during the season and bring in Doc Rivers as their new coach at the start of this year.
At the time of writing, Antetokounmpo has recently reached the 18,000 points milestone in NBA games, by marking 30 points in a comfortable win against the Philadelphia Sixers. Lillard is ahead of him on the all-time scoring charts with over 20,000 career points so it seems likely that the franchise’s success or otherwise this season will come down to whether those two can keep playing and scoring through the regular season and the postseason games.
What About the Other Teams?
Those four teams mentioned are all capable of winning the 2024 title and have been backed by many bettors to do this. However, if we cast our eyes further down the list, we can see that the next favorites on the odds list include the Phoenix Suns and the New York Knicks. The current odds tell us, though, that it would be a major surprise if the winner of the title this year isn’t one of those four franchises we looked at in detail earlier.
