OKC Thunder Open as Favorites to Win the 2025–26 NBA Title

It took more work than expected, but OKC won its first NBA title since leaving Seattle—and it’s no surprise they’re early favorites to defend it in 2026.

Building a Dynasty 

Having finished the 2024-25 regular season with a league- and franchise-best record of 68-14, the Oklahoma City Thunder were not expected to have too many forks in the road en route to the 2024-25 NBA title. There were, but they did. 

So, after sweeping the Memphis Grizzlies in four NBA playoff games, the pesky speed bumps arrived. It was a seven-game, second-round series against the Denver Nuggets, then a relatively easy disposal (five games) of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the final of the Western Conference (despite losing that one game by 42 points).

A Finals engagement with the Indiana Pacers was supposed to be nothing more than a formality. Indy didn’t read that memo, however, taking the Thunder to seven games. The gruesome (and well-documented) torn right Achilles injury suffered by Tyrese Haliburton in Game 7 may not have altered the outcome, but it certainly made the Thunder’s task easier.

The franchise’s second NBA title came after the beloved Seattle SuperSonics won in 1979.

OKC silenced those critics about its substandard performance in the postseason. It lost in the Western semis last season and hadn’t reached even a conference final since the 2015-16 season. There was one other (2012) Finals appearance, a loss (five games) to the Miami Heat.

Bettors who took the minuscule (-660) price on OKC at the outset of the Finals cashed, but not without a few antacid moments. What will be of the Haliburton-less Pacers next season is another issue.  

Turning to 2025-26, it’s no surprise to find the Thunder as 9-4 (+225) favorites to repeat, according to those NBA championship futures odds. The second-choice Houston Rockets have gained some attention after the acquisition of Kevin Durant. Houston is at 17-2 (+850).

Next are the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks at 9-1 (+900), with the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves each at 14-1 (+1400). Those aforementioned Pacers are listed at 50-1 (+5000). 

Here’s a bit of a primer on the newly-crowned NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder…

Who Is the New Owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder?

The Oklahoma City Thunder are technically the Professional Basketball Club LLC, with Clay Bennett as its chairman (there was another part-owner [Aubrey McClendon] who died after driving at high speed into a wall a day after being federally indicted in March of 2016, but that’s another story). 

Why Did the Thunder Move to OKC? 

That painful question is haunting Seattle SuperSonics fans to this day. There was a protracted battle over funding to build a new arena, along with other lease issues regarding what was then KeyArena. Ironically, the existing building, which opened as the Washington State Pavilion in 1962 (in conjunction with the World’s Fair), was overhauled (except the exterior and roof) in time to lure the NHL’s expansion Seattle Kraken in 2021. It’s now the Climate Pledge Arena.  

Does BetUS Offer Constant Updates on NBA Games Betting Lines?

Indeed. There are a plethora of odds and props available throughout the regular and postseason around individual games, individual awards, and anything a bettor might desire. Those NBA game odds include that ever-popular ‘pick the next champion’ future wager as well.

As with other wagers, NBA championship futures odds are fluid, thus subject to change.   

Any Final Thoughts?

Anyone who pays even marginal attention to the NBA and NBA rumors is well aware of regular-season and Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He ended 24-25, averaging 32.7 points to lead the league, and those Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stats went a long way toward the Thunder hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy.