The Oklahoma City Thunder were underdogs in only three games last season en route to winning the franchise’s first NBA championship.
Oddsmakers are expecting a similar campaign this season.
The Thunder, who tip off their title defense Tuesday against the Houston Rockets, are commanding favorites to win another championship, listed at 2-1 at ESPN BET. Those are the shortest title odds entering a season since the powerhouse Golden State Warriors in 2017-18.
“They’re head and shoulders above [everyone], and they’ll be favored in just about every game, unless there’s something unforeseen,” Jeff Sherman, a veteran NBA oddsmaker for the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, said of the Thunder.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, at +650, have the second-shortest odds behind the Thunder. The Denver Nuggets (+650) are the only other team with title odds shorter than +1000.
The New York Knicks are +1000, followed by the Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers, who are each +1500.
While Oklahoma City is the overwhelming favorite, the Thunder’s short odds have bettors looking elsewhere.
At ESPN BET, nearly 50% of the money that had been bet on the odds to win the NBA title was on the Nuggets. Denver also had attracted the most bets and most money to win the title at BetMGM. The Nuggets’ title odds moved from around 15-1 down to +650 this offseason, as the team retooled around Nikola Jokic.
Jokic is the betting favorite to win MVP and is listed +215 at ESPN BET, followed by Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at +250. The Lakers’ Luka Doncic is next at +440.
