The NBA Playoffs are in full swing, and for the first time all season, the defending champs have been knocked off their perch as consensus favorites in the Western Conference.
While the Boston Celtics are still NBA odds favorites for the title, the Minnesota Timberwolves stunned the basketball world on Monday night, not only taking a 2-0 lead over the Denver Nuggets, but demoralizing them in about every way possible.
Throughout the playoffs, stay tuned here as we bring you updated betting analysis, the latest props markets, and other postseason news as the NBA championship odds heat up.
Expert NBA Finals Predictions
Our experts went mostly chalk, with the betting markets at the time moving further towards a Celtics-Nuggets matchup in the NBA Finals.
However, Minnesota's Game 2 blowout put all but two of these NBA Finals predictions in serious peril:
| Writer | Pick (odds) |
|---|---|
| Rory Breasail |  Nuggets over Celtics |
| Andrew Caley |  Thunder over Celtics |
| Douglas Farmer | Nuggets over Celtics |
| Jon Metler |  Celtics over Mavericks |
| Ryan Murphy | Nuggets over Celtics |
| Rohit Ponnaiya | Celtics over Nuggets |
| AJ Salah | Nuggets over Celtics |
Picks made prior to start of playoffs.
NBA Finals favorites
Eastern Conference - Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics spent the last month of the regular season in cruise control, long since wrapping up homecourt throughout the playoffs.
Early depth concerns after gutting their rotation to acquire Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis were mitigated by just how dominant Boston's Top 6 has been, while the likes of Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet, and even Payton Pritchard rose to the occasion all season.
The Celtics easily dispatched the Heat in the first round, awaiting the winner of Cleveland-Orlando's Game 7, though Porzingis will miss multiple games with a strained calf.
Western Conference - Minnesota Timberwolves
There were plenty of pundits who gave the Minnesota Timberwolves a serious shot at dethroning the defending champs, but nobody can realistically say they thought it would look this easy. The Wolves routed Denver in the first half of Game 2, building a 30-point lead and never looking back.
Anthony Edwards continues to defy superlatives with both his play and swagger, while Karl-Anthony Towns has never looked more comfortable in his role as the 1-B. But the real story has been the Wolves' defense, a well-oiled phalanx that moves in perfect sync and has swarmed the Nuggets into a frustrated abyss.
The Nugs not only face an absolute must-win in Game 3, but doing so on the road, and against a fully-rested Rudy Gobert resuming his role as Denver's defensive lynchpin.
Clipped too short
In 2019, the Los Angeles Clippers pulled off what many in the NBA called a coup when they snagged then-reigning Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and Paul George within days of each other, joining two of the NBA's truly elite two-way swingmen.
It was a move that was supposed to make them instant title contenders, but five years, several playoff collapses, and approximately 183 nebulous Leonard injuries later, we've yet to see this Clippers unit play truly dominant basketball for more than 20 games or so at a time.
MAVS ELIMINATE THE CLIPPERS AND ADVANCE TO THE SEMIFINALS 😤 pic.twitter.com/dO8LA4SzBo
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 4, 2024
Leonard inevitably went down against the Mavericks — playing just two games in the series, and clearly not himself — further handcuffing a team that had already done the exact opposite of "peak at the right time".
This latest postseason setback puts the Clippers at a critical crossroads this offseason, facing difficult questions about everything from Leonard's health, to the roster's age, and what — if any — flexibility remains to retool this unit without completely detonating it.
While the Leonard signing was a no-brainer, and the George trade a must-make gamble, the price LAC paid was massive (a zillion draft picks and some dude named Shai Gilgeous-Alexander), and the potential downside of that summer is being realized in full.
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2024 NBA Finals props odds
DraftKings sportsbook is already offering an array of NBA playoff odds props for the eventual 2024 NBA title winner (odds as of 5-7-24).
Conference to win the NBA Finals
We were looking at a dead heat between the East for this year's title for most of the first round, but with the Nugget's possible demise appearing to knock out the former West favorite, those odds have shifted slightly, to East -140 and West +115.
Division to win the NBA Finals
The Atlantic (-130) and Northwest (+160) — home to the Celtics and Timberwolves — are the favorites here. The Atlantic also houses the East's No. 2 seed, the New York Knicks, while the Northwest actually houses the West's entire Top 3, with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Nuggets joining the Wolves.
First-time Finals winner
The Timberwolves and Pacers are the only potential first-time winners left, paying +290 collectively to win the title, vs. -380 for the rest of the field.
Seed to win the NBA Finals
1-seeds are understandable favorites (-135); they are the top seed after all. The Celtics also double as the overall favorites to win the title, giving this combo between them and OKC the odds-on lead. The 3-seed comes in at +320 for the No. 2 choice, with the Wolves' recent dismantling of the Nuggets.
2024 NBA Finals Schedule
| Game | Date/Time | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Game 1 | June 6 @ TBA | TBA |
| Game 2 | June 9 @ TBA | TBA |
| Game 3 | June 12 @ TBA | TBA |
| Game 4 | June 14 @ TBA | TBA |
| Game 5 (if necessary) | June 17 @ TBA | TBA |
| Game 6 (if necessary) | June 20 @ TBA | TBA |
| Game 7 (if necessary) | June 23 @ TBA | TBA |
2023 NBA Finals
The Denver Nuggets won the 2023 NBA Finals in five games over the Miami Heat.
The NBA championship trophy is named after Larry O'Brien, the third commissioner of the NBA, who served from 1975 to 1984. The trophy was previously known as the Walter A. Brown Trophy and was renamed in honor of Larry O'Brien in 1984.
Jerry West is the all-time leader in career points in NBA Finals history with 1,679 points. LeBron James ranks second with 1,562 career points. Other active players in the top 50 include Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and Kyrie Irving.
Bill Russell has won the most NBA championships with 11 titles during his 13-year playing career. He also holds the record for the most career wins in the NBA Finals, with 45 wins. The Top 5 players with the most appearances in NBA Finals are Bill Russell, Sam Jones, LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Magic Johnson.
