2024 NBA Championship Odds: Nuggets Enter the Offseason as Favorites to Repeat, Celtics & Bucks Follow

Less than 24 hours after the final buzzer sounded on the 2023 season, sportsbooks began posting odds for the final game of next year’s season. Returning most players from this year’s championship core, the Nuggets enter next season as the odds-on favorites to repeat with odds as short as +450 at both Caesars and BetRivers. The Celtics — this year’s Eastern Conference runner-up — follow behind with +550 odds across the board.

2024 NBA Championship Odds

While the playoffs have finished no less than 24 hours ago, it’s never too early to look at next year’s odds as we determine if any of them have any value.

Denver Nuggets Enter 2024 as Title Favorites

Is a Denver dynasty brewing? Oddsmakers are leaning towards that idea as they opened the Nuggets as the title favorite heading into next season. It comes as no surprise as a majority of their championship core are locked up under contract for at least another year. The only notable player who is not locked into next year is their sixth man Bruce Brown who has yet to make a decision on his player option.

With a brunt of their production guaranteed to return, the Nuggets will remain elite. Their star duo of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray form a lethal combination as they run a one-two punch that puts defenders in a brutal spot. They play a reactionary style of a pick game, basing their decision off the space their defender gives them as Murray slips off of a Jokic pick. Either opting in for a jumper at the perimeter, slashing towards the middle, or having Jokic attack the interior for a high-quality finish.

This style of play opens up the rest of the floor for their secondary scorers, giving Michael porter Jr, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Aaron Gordon ample space for high quality looks at the rim as spot up shooters. When running cold, their offense took a different direction by having their shooters cut to the basket by taking advantage of back door opportunities. Simply put, this unit is dangerous and will be poised to find the same success off the vision of star big man Nikola Jokic.

Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics Follow Behind

The cream of the crop in the Eastern Conference clock in at one and two as the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics are chalk full of talent. The Bucks disappointed by bowing out early in round one to the Miami Heat while the Celtics failed to show up in game seven in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Both teams are in a good position to return their star power as they are all locked up under contract for at least two more years. The Bucks are in a more peculiar position as Khris Middleton is on a player option heading into next year and they will also need to make a decision involving Brook Lopez who is currently a free agent.

As for the Celtics, they return a majority of their star power but are in the middle of trade rumors as Jaylen Brown has grown unhappy with the organization. Those feelings were only amplified as he suffered a hand injury and failed to return back to star form when it mattered most in their series against the Heat. Should they decide to keep the slashing shooting guard then the Celtics will once again be a wagon with talent at every position.

2024 NBA Championship Best Bet: Golden State Warriors (+1200)

While media personalities pushed the narrative that this was the last season of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green playing together, I’m personally not buying it. Not when Curry, Klay, Kevon Looney, Jordan Poole, and Andrew Wiggins are all locked into next year with Draymond Green having to make a decision on his player option.

Assuming Draymond opts into his player option knowing that they bring back a majority of their championship production, I want to get ahead of it by locking the Warriors futures into my portfolio now.

Last season was deemed doomed from the start as off court issues persisted when Draymond and Poole went at it in practice, seemingly never being able to gel together as a unit throughout the season. This still led them to a second-round appearance in the playoffs, bowing out to a Lakers team who masterfully abused their size advantage for high quality looks in the interior.

The Warriors are now in a position to right their wrongs over the course of a full offseason. Re-sign Draymond Green, potentially shop around Jordan Poole for a package of secondary scorers and beef up their size with a cheap big man, and the Warriors will be right back in championship contention.