The Denver Nuggets are your 2023 NBA Champions, so it’s time to turn our attention to 2024 and check out the early title odds for next season.
Who are the favorites?
And where do the Knicks and Nets stand entering 2023-24?
Let’s take a look.
Odds via Caesars.
NBA title odds 2024: The favorites
Predictably, the Nuggets are the title favorites for next season, the only team with odds shorter than 5-to-1 at +450.
I have no qualms here.
The Nuggets fit the bill of a team that can repeat, as they have their whole core locked up for next season, including the league’s best player (Nikola Jokic) and a rapidly-ascending guard (Jamal Murray).
The Boston Celtics are the runner-up title betting favorites in the futures market, with +550 odds at Caesars.
The problem with the Celtics is there are so many question marks.
Will Jaylen Brown still be on the team?
Is the front office looking to move any role players (Malcolm Brogdon, Grant Williams, et cetera)?
Is Joe Mazzulla the head coach of the future?
I think the Celtics ultimately decide to run it back with their squad this season, but I can’t be sure.
The Milwaukee Bucks (+500) and Phoenix Suns (+700) are the next two teams toward the top of the 2024 futures markets.
The Bucks are in an interesting spot with Khris Middleton’s player option, although I doubt he will decline it.
But even if Milwaukee has Middleton back, they’ll still have to either re-sign or replace Brook Lopez, Jae Crowder and Joe Ingles.
The Suns have all their best players locked up back but zero depth under contract.
Also, the Chris Paul trade rumors have already begun.
The Los Angeles Lakers (+1200), Golden State Warriors (+1200) and Philadelphia 76ers (+1300) are also all toward the top of the odds board.
NBA title odds 2024: Where do the Knicks stand?
The New York Knicks hold the 15th-shortest odds to win the NBA title next season at +5000.
Those odds imply a 2% chance the Knicks win the title in 2024.
Honestly, those odds seem long for the Knicks.
The Knicks finished the regular season with the seventh-highest net rating in the NBA (+2.8) and finished second in points per 100 possession scored (118.7).
The team has its entire core locked up, including team options for Derrick Rose, Josh Hart, Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley and Quentin Grimes.
The team also has a clearly defined leader in point guard Jalen Brunson, who is fresh off the best offensive season of his young career (24 PPG, 6.2 APG, +4.3 Offensive Estimated Plus-Minus).
The NBA is a star-driven league, and Brunson has superstar upside.
While these Knicks shouldn’t be among the top five or six favorites to win the 2024 title, they shouldn’t have longer odds than the New Orleans Pelicans (+3000).
There’s some value in betting on New York’s title hopes at these odds.
NBA Championship Odds 2024: Where do the Nets stand?
The Brooklyn Nets have the 23rd shortest odds to win the NBA title in 2024, at +12500.
The situation is dire in Brooklyn.
The Nets have $145.6 million committed to 11 players for next season, so they’re already over the cap, and their highest-paid players are Ben Simmons, Mikal Bridges, Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris.
The Nets have two first-round picks, but they come at 21 and 22.
Perhaps they can package those and move up a few picks, but there’s no rookie phenom coming to save this deeply flawed roster.
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If I were in Brooklyn’s front office, I’d try and re-organize the roster around Nic Claxton and surround the big man with the young guards.
Claxton is an excellent two-way center, while Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith and Cam Thomas are the three highest-ceiling players on the team.
You can throw Joe Harris in there for spacing.
At the minimum, that starting five gives you a vision for the future.
After that, the Nets must wait for the Simmons and Bridges contracts to expire.
NBA Championship Odds 2024: Full odds to win (via Caesars)
- Denver Nuggets: +450
- Boston Celtics: +550
- Milwaukee Bucks: +700
- Phoenix Suns: +900
- Los Angeles Lakers: +1200
- Golden State Warriors: +1200
- Philadelphia 76ers: +1300
- Dallas Mavericks: +1800
- Miami Heat: +1800
- Los Angeles Clippers: +1800
- Memphis Grizzlies: +2200
- Sacramento Kings: +2500
- Cleveland Cavaliers: +2800
- New Orleans Pelicans: +3000
- New York Knicks: +5000
- Minnesota Timberwolves: +5500
- Atlanta Hawks: +6000
- Toronto Raptors: +6500
- Oklahoma City Thunder: +7000
- Portland Trail Blazers: +7500
- Houston Rockets: +9000
- Chicago Bulls: +10000
- Brooklyn Nets: +12500
- Orlando Magic: +12500
- San Antonio Spurs: +15000
- Utah Jazz: +15000
- Indiana Pacers: +15000
- Charlotte Hornets: +20000
- Washington Wizards: +25000
- Detroit Pistons: +60000
