The NBA Season is just a couple of short days away, and you know what that means. That’s right, it’s time to dig into NBA team futures. If you didn’t have time to dig through the transaction logs from the offseason, let us do the heavy lifting for you. We took a look at where everybody should stand and put together some top value plays for the 2025 NBA team futures market.
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2025 NBA Team Futures – Best Bets and Predictions
2025 NBA Divisional Winners
Southeast – Atlanta Hawks (+150)
Last year the Hawks finished just a game behind the Magic in a lackluster Southeast Division race. Neither team made a ton of noise in the offseason – but both added a key piece. The Magic snagged Desmond Bane and the Hawks picked up Kristaps Porzingis. As long as he can stay healthy, I like the dynamic that Porzingis should bring to this Hawks squad and I think it should make up that one-game difference.
Atlantic – New York Knicks (-300)
I like the Knicks to win the Atlanta because – like, who else could? The Celtics have completely booted their season after winning the division last season. Now the Knicks are the obvious favorite and second in the odds, the Philadelphia 76ers, finished 37 games out of first last year. Sure this play is a bit chalky, but it does seem like found money.
Southwest – Dallas Mavericks (+750)
After giving out some chalk, I wanted to take a swing here as well. The Mavericks are getting some heat, and rightfully so, for trading Luka Doncic last year. While that move seemed stupid, they do have a really good looking starting five right now. The addition of Cooper Flagg is also a question mark as we’ll have to figure out just how good he is. If he lives up to the hype, these odds may look like a gift come April.
2025 NBA Win Totals
Chicago Bulls – Over 33.5 (+100)
Although the Bulls tore down last year, I don’t think they’re nearly as bad as the books are making them out to be. When they traded away Zack LaVine last year, it signalled an effort to start over. However, they finished the season 18-14 after that point. I’m not saying they’ll find that pace again, but it wouldn’t even need to be close and they’d hit the over.
San Antonio Spurs – Under 44.5 (-120)
Everybody wants to believe in Wembanyama and is hoping the Spurs turn into contenders. The problem is that it isn’t going to happen overnight and this total is asking for a huge jump. Maybe people are counting on a boost from De’Aaron Fox, but San Antonio went 6-11 with him on the court last year. This total is just a bit too lofty for me.
Boston Celtics – Under 41.5 (-110)
As I said in the Atlantic Division play, the Celtics seem to have booted the year already. They have almost no size in that starting lineup, which shows with Sam Hauser expected to start at power forward. They’ll start a center who has only pulled down double figures in rebounds once. And, of course, scoring seems like it is going to be heavily focused on what Jaylen Brown can do. All of those factors lead me to believe we’re getting a losing record out of this squad.
Miscellaneous Other Bets
Play-In Team to Win a Series (-110)
Last year, the difference in the Western Conference between being a top two team and a play-in team was four games. That’s hardly anything over a 82-game season. The gap between the haves and the have-nots is getting smaller and smaller in recent years. As a result, I’m down to believe one of those play-in teams could move on.
Detroit Pistons – NBA Cup Winner (+2500)
The NBA Cup isn’t for the teams looking to hoist the Larry O’Brien at the end of the year. It’s for the middling teams who are taking a step forward. In the two years of it’s existence, the NBA Cup winners finished 5th and 7th respectively in their conferences. The Pistons fall right into that range and have a bunch of players ready to take a step forward – including odds-on favorite for Most Improved Player, Amen Thompson.
Cleveland Cavaliers – NBA Champion (+750)
Last year the Cavaliers tore through the regular season and put up some gaudy numbers. Their biggest competition in the Eastern Conference has decided to push the reset button, which should allow them to waltz to the NBA Finals. A year of growth for some of the younger guys should only help matters and their time to strike is here.
If you’d like even more picks for 2025 NBA Team Futures, be sure to check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. The guys are dropping plenty of episodes to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.
