Buy or Sell Top 2025 NBA Championship Odds Right Now

More than one-quarter of the way through the 2024-25 NBA regular season, the championship picture is beginning to take shape.

Granted, on many nights, this shape can appear indecipherable. The pool of teams one player or one lucky break away from success feels deeper and more fluid than ever.

Fortunately for us, FanDuel's betting odds to win the NBA title spare us from having to cobble together our own pecking order. Instead, we get to look at the 10 teams with the best lines and weigh in on their championship chances.

The approach to buying or selling title odds is proprietary, but I'll pull back the curtain anyway. We aren't only looking at whether these teams have a path to winning it all. They all (probably) do. But we are also evaluating them against the value they're laying at FanDuel entering games on Wednesday, Dec. 4.

Since beginning the year 2-8, the Milwaukee Bucks have won nine of 10 while posting a top-five offense and top-nine defense. The schedule hasn't been backbreaking, but the team is reversing enough misfortunes to take the ascent seriously.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is chewing up opponents and spitting them out. Damian Lillard has resumed finding nylon. Gary Trent Jr. looks waaay more like Gary Trent Jr. coming off the bench. Bobby Portis Jr. is no longer a one-man tank job. Brook Lopez is burying threes and sealing off the basket.

There remains a fragility to Milwaukee's defense. But AJ Green, Andre Jackson Jr. and even Taurean Prince are plugging some of the leaks, and Khris Middleton's return will soup up the offense enough to increase the Bucks' margin for defensive error.

In an Eastern Conference begging for genuine threats outside Boston and Cleveland, Milwaukee has become an absolute buy.

Verdict: Buy

Though the Minnesota Timberwolves have shown more moxie since Anthony Edwards verbally disemboweled them, the roster is facing too many questions.

How much can you trust a defense in a playoff setting when it's heavily reliant on Julius Randle? Donte DiVincenzo (all season) and Naz Reid (recently) will emerge from their shooting slumps. What about Jaden McDaniels? And how much can Minnesota count on an age-37 Mike Conley, who has endured both injuries and on-court fluctuations all year?

Nickeil Alexander-Walker is currently this team's second-most valuable player. Is that really cool or alarming? Does Minnesota have enough secondary playmaking to lighten Randle's workload in the name of chemistry and defense? Rookie Rob Dillingham may be ready for an expanded workload after returning from an ankle injury. Will that remain true in the postseason crucible?

Buying the dip can be useful on many occasions. This isn't one of them.

Verdict: Sell

Go ahead and avoid these Golden State Warriors in the championship-futures arena unless the payout tilts more toward 30-to-1, if not longer.

This is not an overreaction to their recent five-game skid. Their offense has existed on shaky ground for much longer.

Golden State ranks 28th in points scored per possession since its Nov. 18 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. And it remains completely incapable of generating efficient offense without Stephen Curry on the floor.

Frantic defensive intensity endures. That's a recipe for tons of regular-season success. But if the Warriors are going to register as anything more than a postseason stepping stone, they need to acquire a genuine No. 2 option.

Verdict: Sell

Buying the Phoenix Suns is tempting. The top-end talent is there. They have carved out above-average ratings at both ends under head coach Mike Budenholzer despite suboptimal personnel and availability. And Dallas, Houston and Oklahoma are the only Western Conference teams with more victories against opponents .500 or better.

Glaring rotation holes still rend this tough. Phoenix needs an upgrade at the center spot and could use a wing who blends the collective skill sets of rookie Ryan Dunn, Grayson Allen, Josh Okogie and Royce O'Neale.

Improvement is on the table. The Suns are more likely to trade their 2031 first-rounder than anyone, and rookie Oso Ighodaro is providing a potential frontline solution.

Extreme dependence on Kevin Durant invariably undermines it all. Phoenix is decidedly losing the minutes in which he's not on the floor, and he's now out with his second left leg injury of the season.

Verdict: Sell

Isolate the Nikola Jokić minutes, and the Denver Nuggets project as serious contenders. They are outscoring opponents by a whopping 14 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor.

The thing is, he doesn't play all 48 minutes. He's on the floor for roughly 38 per game—arguably too much if you're trying to preserve him for a title push. More damningly, even as various members of the supporting cast make strides, Denver gets blasted by 17.8 points per 100 possessions when its superstar catches a breather.

Surviving or even almost-surviving without the three-time NBA MVP isn't a new problem, but it does take on a whole new meaning when the Nuggets are more reliant on him than ever.

Until or unless they can evade house-of-cards vibes beyond Jokić, they should not be treated as a top-seven contender.

Verdict: Sell

What must the Cleveland Cavaliers do to take sole ownership of the second-best championship odds in the Eastern Conference?

Consecutive losses to the Atlanta Hawks, of all teams, may have opened up the skepticism floodgates. But the Cavs followed those up with a win over the Boston Celtics.

Everything about this team is the real deal: the offense, the defense, the dual-big combinations, the staggered lineups, the depth, everything. Cleveland even has the runway to get better.

Opponents should cool off from three. Max Strus will eventually play. The Cavs even have the salary-matching tools to go scoop up a reserve wing or combo forward on the trade market. Which isn't to say they must make changes. They have a top-two net rating versus opponents with top-10 point differentials.

Left alone, these Cavs can absolutely win the whole thing.

Verdict: Buy

It comes as little surprise that one of last year's championship finalists cracks the top five. It is somewhat shocking that the Dallas Mavericks belong here while still having so much room to get better.

Turning in a top-10 offense (fourth) and defense (eighth) is the hallmark of any primary contender. The Mavs have somehow done so without yet getting the healthiest or best overall version of Luka Dončić. And that is terrifying.

Scorching-hot stretches from P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall and Spencer Dinwiddie may invariably fade. Whatever. Peak Dončić is enough to offset any regressions—and more.

Bake in functional depth and the ability to roll out different-looking lineups without ever sacrificing size, and Dallas profiles as more of a contender than 10-to-1 odds imply.

Verdict: Buy

Even with Mikal Bridges roller-coastering all over the place through the first quarter of the season, the New York Knicks offense is part of the "11/10, no notes" crew.

The defense is a different story.

New York has shown it can tighten up for stretches at a time, doesn't allow second-chance opportunities and generally gets back in transition. But the point-of-attack defense is an issue, and the team has not fared well versus elite competition. Only the Sacramento Kings are allowing more points per possession against top-10 offenses.

Eventually welcoming back Precious Achiuwa and/or Mitchell Robinson could help. Neither fixes the Knicks' biggest defensive issue. And both compromise the team's offensive setup.

Defensive uncertainty is enough to punt on these odds, which paint New York as a primary favorite rather than the secondary threat it actually has become.

Verdict: Sell

Uncertainty over Chet Holmgren's return and what he'll look like upon doing so will be enough for many to punt on the Oklahoma City Thunder as the No. 2 contender.

Their loss.

Oklahoma City's defense remains elite, verging on historical, in Holmgren's absence. You'd prefer to have him available and operating at his peak, but Isaiah Hartenstein—while far from an upgrade—provides more heft at the less glamorous end without compromising versatility.

Near-total offensive dependence on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is more unsettling. Most of the unease is stamped out by Jalen Williams. Running units on his own remains a stretch, particularly without Holmgren, but his continued progression as a shot-creator should playoff-proof the offense in tandem minutes with SGA.

Verdict: Buy

Welcome to the easiest decision of this entire exercise.

Everything about the Boston Celtics continues to scream "title favorite." And hey, if not for the Cleveland Cavaliers, everything about these Celtics would scream "inevitable."

Some have expressed concern over defensive slippage. That's akin to losing sleep over nothing. Kristaps Porziņģis is back and will remedy much of the noise at the rim. And if he doesn't, well, the Celtics still have a top-10 defense to go along with no worse than the league's second-best offense.

Frankly, in this (Eastern Conference) economy, the fact that Boston still pays out better than 2-to-1 is a little absurd.

Verdict: Buy

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.

Unless otherwise cited, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass.