Nuggets open with second-best odds to win 2025 NBA title

The Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics have been threatening a meeting in the NBA Finals for years, if oddsmakers have it right that matchup will finally happen in 2025.

An NBA Finals featuring the last two champions and two of the best teams of the last half decade or so would be a great series of basketball. Bookies set the line for the Celtics as heavy favorites to get back to the championship series. Boston has a relatively simple offseason making them for sure favorites for another title but only one team has repeated in the last decade with the last five champions not even getting past the second round the following season.

That’s good news for the Nuggets but Denver does have a far more complex offseason with a huge question regarding the player option and possible extension of starting shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. That issue will go hand in hand with how the Nuggets battle the new supertax (second apron) that they’re on the horizon of hitting, if they do it that will carry significant short-term and possible long-term ramifications which will restrict the rest of the Nuggets roster construction—though it might be worth it to keep the standout three-and-d two-time champion. And that’s likely not even the main reason the Nuggets odds are almost half that of the Celtics to get to the Finals—it’s because the West is so much better with four teams having the same or better odds at the title than the second-most-likely team in the East which is the Bucks.

2025 NBA Championship odds

Boston Celtics: +300
Denver Nuggets: +750
Minnesota Timberwolves: +850
Dallas Mavericks: +900
Oklahoma City Thunder: +1000
Milwaukee Bucks: +1000
Philadelphia 76ers: +1200
New York Knicks: +1600

While there are some questions about who the Nuggets will actually have on the court next year and if there will be a big shakeup—Michael Malone has proven that even with just Nikola Jokic and some miscast support that Denver is a playoff team. All the Nuggets have needed for home-court advantage in the past several seasons is Jokic and a significant chunk of action from Jamal Murray. Strangely the side-kicking guard’s second year back after knee surgery was more erratic than his first season. Though the Blue Arrow’s numbers were good, he battled leg issues all season and struggled to stay on the floor, eventually looking to be significantly hampered in the postseason. All of this is to say is that this Nuggets core is a safer bet to be in the position to make a deep run come next spring than the rest of the field.

Denver will no doubt have their work cut out for them in the West, with Dallas surviving through the conference this season. They went from missing the playoffs to NBA runner-ups which is similar to Memphis who went from No. 2 seed in the regular season 2023 to missing the playoffs in 2024. The Mavs and Griz should both be back in 2025, with the addition of the No. 1 seed from a season ago in the young Thunder as well as the scary-in-Colorado Wolves. That’s not even to mention whatever remains of the Clippers Hall of Fame foursome, young and asset-rich Pelicans, star-led Suns, LeBron’s Lakers, and year two of Wemby in San Antonio. When talking about just all of that quickly, it’s easy to understand why Boston could again speed through the East given their best rivals have serious questions about the Knicks’ health, Bucks’ age and coaching and just generally whatever Joel Embiid is up to in Philly.

The Celtics should’ve probably been in the NBA Finals in 2023 against Denver but they were knocked by Miami in a Game 7 in Boston. While the Nuggets probably should’ve been in the Finals against Boston in 2024, but they were knocked by Minnesota in a Game 7 at Ball Arena. In fact, the only time neither team made at least the conference finals over the last five seasons was in 2021’s strange COVID-19 return year. The Celtics have made the playoffs 10 straight years and the Nuggets streak is up to six.

The Nuggets were the lone team to beat Boston in 2023-24 in a season or postseason series, as Denver took both games from the reigning champions who went 80-21 during the full season.

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