NBA Season Odds: 6 Burning Questions That Will Determine The Course Of 2024-25

The NBA season kicks off for most teams on Wednesday, after a summer of big trades and lots of movement. With contenders rising and falling, the title race both stable and deeply unsettled, and teams primed to rise, there’s so much potential for chaos. Let’s dig into six burning questions for this that will shape how NBA odds shake out this season.

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Will The Sixers Finally Kick The Football?

The Charlie Brown of the NBA, the Sixers’ process has yet to see them make an Eastern Conference Finals. The addition of Paul George should give them their best chance to do so, but they finally got the right third star the year they’re in the most trouble.

Joel Embiid hasn’t played in the preseason. It’s unclear when he’ll play again. He might never play another back-to-back and will be lucky to hit 60 games. Paul George isn’t a lock for 70 games either, which could see the Sixers end up in the middle of the East playoff picture. Unless Tyrese Maxey takes another step, there will be a lot of nights when the Sixers aren’t able to win games their theoretical best talent should dictate.

If this team is healthy in April then theoretically everything is available for them. But the chances of Embiid actually being healthy then are low, and the lack of regular season availability will make getting a top seed nearly impossible. It’s likely true that this is the best Sixers roster since The Process started. It’s also true that getting to the third round probably requires injuries to one of Jayson Tatum or Jalen Brunson.

Can The Knicks Seriously Challenge The Celtics?

The Knicks made two massive trades this offseason, adding to the Nova Knicks by getting Mikal Bridges and then getting rid of Donte DiVincenzo in the Julius Randle/Karl-Anthony Towns swap. At full health, a Brunson-Josh Hart-Bridges-OG Anunoby-KAT starting lineup is lethal. Miles McBride could theoretically take cover the loss of DiVincenzo. But this is a Thibs team, and 40% of that starting lineup is injury risks.

If Thibs runs these guys into the ground, they could be a great regular season team that falls off late in the season. That said, hopefully the experience of last year serves as a learning experience for Thibs. Because no team matches up better with the Celtics. Bridges and OG are long, rangy defenders who will be able to cover for Brunson, Hart has shown a great ability to roam freely on defense and recover well, and KAT should be able to be good enough on defense. If this team is healthy they have the wing defense to limit Tatum and Brown.

Opening night was concerning, but they’re a team working in two new starters. I still think they can win it all.

If they’re healthy.

Please don’t overplay them Thibs, cause they’re my bet to win the title of in NBA season odds.

Is The Nuggets’ Title Window Closed?

The Nuggets have gone from the looming giants of the West to an afterthought in a conference full of exciting stories. That said, we’ve all forgotten how good the Nuggets are when they’re healthy, which they very clearly weren’t in the playoffs.

Jamal Murray did a couple of Kobe impressions in the first round, but he wasn’t himself all playoffs. They were clearly gassed by the end of the Timberwolves series. Now, after a summer off, they should be better off. And they were still up 20 in Game 7 over a now-weakened Timberwolves team.

Adding Russell Westbrook should allow the Nuggets to manage Murray’s minutes and give him the best shot at being healthy. Christian Braun should be able to step into the starting lineup and take a jump in bigger minutes. And Jokic is still better than everyone else.

I’ve bet the Nuggets to win the West.

Will Either Golden State Or The Lakers Actually Matter?

Klay Thompson leaving Golden State sucks as a fan, but it’s not like Klay was actually particularly useful last year. They’re stuck with Steph, Dray, and a bunch of mediocrities who will look great one night and suck the next. When you inevitably see Bob Meyers on NBA Countdown acting like this team is underperforming, remember that he’s the one who locked the Warriors into irrelevance by extending Wiggins off of one (1) good playoff run.

On the Lakers front, they are the same team they were last year except, LeBron’s a year older. They were eminently mediocre. When DLo makes his diet of bad shots, they’ll win. When he misses them, they’ll lose. And yet they’ll get 4000% of the discourse all season long.

Have We All Gone Overboard On The OKC Hype?

The Thunder are fabulous, amazing, incredible, the best. Getting Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey was a steal. Jaylen Williams is a hugely valuable player, Shai is an MVP contender, and Chet will take a leap. Lu Dort is a shutdown defender. I get all the arguments. They also lost in the second round because they refused to change their defensive scheme and let P.J. Washington hit every corner 3.

The Thunder are, on paper, the best team in the West. I’m just saying they’ve yet to prove anything. We are penciling in this team to run the West like we did in 2012 when the KD-Harden-Westbrook team had just made a finals. They never made it back. The KD-Kyrie-Harden Nets won one playoff series. We love anointing teams before they actually achieve things.

The West is a gauntlet. It’s not anything close to a guarantee the Thunder run through it. 

Is Dallas Going To Repeat Their Finals Run?

The case for believing in the Mavs is simple. Luka’s incredible, Dereck Lively II’s only going to get better in his second season, Klay should thrive with the amount of open shots the Mavs generate, and this team will score at will.

That’s all true. But this team is still going to get blown up by opposing offenses, and that’s the concern.

If Dallas plays Klay with Kyrie, that’s two weak defensive players in the lineup at the same time, three if Doncic decides he can’t or won’t burn his energy on defense. The Mavs will score a lot. Whether they lock in defensively in the regular season will matter, because they can’t expect to plow through the playoffs on the road again this year.

Best of luck with NBA Season odds!