Basketball
NBA Outright Preview For 2026/27: Best Bets Across Basketball’s Biggest League
The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder are the basketball betting favourites to win the 2026-27 NBA title.
The defending champion New York Knicks are the favourites to represent the Eastern Conference in the Finals, though at least eight teams will fancy their chances of winning three straight series.
Denver Nuggets To Win Western Conference (12/1) or Win Title (25/1)
The Denver Nuggets still have the highest ceiling in the Western Conference outside of the Thunder and Spurs. Yes, there are legitimate concerns about the health of their veteran core – particularly Aaron Gordon – and the combination of Christian Braun’s underperformance and Peyton Watson’s departure leaves Denver short on the wing.
Still, Nikola Jokić is the best offensive player on the planet. Cam Johnson should be more comfortable in his second year as a Nugget.
A healthy Denver could beat San Antonio or Oklahoma City in a series. They may well be favoured against any other team in the West, so the 12/1 odds to reach the Finals seems pretty generous.
Toronto Raptors To Win Atlantic Division (13/2)
Three teams have shorter NBA odds to win the Atlantic Division than the Toronto Raptors. The Knicks are defending champions, Boston is a regular-season wins machine under Joe Mazzulla, and the Sixers have a stacked roster, so it makes sense that Toronto has the longest odds.
On the other hand, the Raptors won 46 games last year. They have swapped out Brandon Ingram for Kawhi Leonard. Collin Murray-Boyles is into his second season. Jakob Poeltl should be healthier than he was last time around.
Draft lottery reform is going to lead to more congested standings and fewer easy wins. Toronto plays hard and will win games even without Leonard. The Raps might only need to get to 50 for this bet to land.
Los Angeles Lakers To Win Pacific Division (5/6)
Where the Atlantic is loaded with four legitimate contenders, picking the Lakers in the Pacific is simply an answer to: Who else?
The Warriors? Too old. The Suns? Not enough talent. The Kings? Lucky to win 30 games. The Clippers? Ha.
A .500 record might be enough to win this division. The Lakers should be much better than that, despite some curious offseason moves.
Utah Jazz To Make the Playoffs (5/4)
The Thunder, Lakers, Rockets, Spurs, Nuggets, and Timberwolves are in a league of their own as the West’s six best teams. It’s not out of the question that the Jazz are the best of the rest, and they could sneak into the top six if any of the aforementioned sextet suffer injuries or underachieve.
Keyonte George, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Lauri Markkanen are a strong trio. Darryn Peterson has a wide range of outcomes as a rookie, but the Jazz don’t need him to be an All-Star to make the playoffs.
Jusuf Nurkić will be a serviceable centre option once he returns from injury. Ace Bailey, Svi Mykhailiuk, Brice Sensabaugh, Josh Okogie, and Isaiah Collier provide more than sufficient depth to rack up regular season wins.
Boston Celtics To Participate in Play-In Tournament (11/4)
The Celtics could feasibly be the East’s top seed. Mazzulla has churned out regular season wins, even with Jayson Tatum missing the majority of last term.
This bet is partly about swapping out the ironman Jaylen Brown for Paul George. It’s also about the depth of the East – there are 10 teams (Celtics, Pacers, Knicks, Sixers, Cavaliers, Heat, Raptors, Pistons, Hawks, and Magic) that will be expecting to make the playoffs.
Atlanta and Orlando are a tier below the rest, but that still leaves eight into six automatic playoff spots. An implied probability of 26.7% on the Celtics to finish seventh, eighth, ninth, or 10th seems too low.
*Odds subject to change – prices accurate at the time of writing*
