Here's the Favorite to Win the 2026 NBA Finals

The NBA playoffs began Saturday, and the Oklahoma City Thunder‘s title defense will officially start on Sunday afternoon.

The Thunder finished the regular season with a league-best 64-18 record, good for the top seed in the Western Conference, and they were rewarded with a favorable path to the 2026 NBA Finals. Or, at least as favorable a path as possible in a deep Western Conference.

Oklahoma City will face the eighth-seeded Phoenix Suns in the first round, and it will be a stunner if that series goes beyond five games. Assuming the Thunder advance, they will face either the Los Angeles Lakers or Houston Rockets and would be favored against either team.

The Thunder are the odds-on favorites to win a second straight championship, but there has not been a repeat NBA champion since the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018.

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks won it all in 2021 and were presumed to rip off two or three titles in a row, but failed to reach the NBA Finals again. The same can be said about Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets and the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown Boston Celtics. Neither team reached the conference finals as defending champions.

So, it’s worth noting that the San Antonio Spurs, Celtics, and Nuggets have the next-best odds.

The Thunder will only have to worry about either the Nuggets or Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. It greatly benefits them that the Nuggets and Spurs would have to battle it out in the conference semifinals before facing them - assuming the Nuggets take care of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Spurs dispatch the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round.

The Nuggets went 1-3 against the Thunder in the regular season, while the Spurs were the only team to consistently give the Thunder trouble, going 3-1.

The Celtics, meanwhile, are in the weaker conference.

With Tatum back and looking more and more like himself post-Achilles, Boston has become the overwhelming favorite to represent the Eastern Conference in the 2026 NBA Finals. The top-seeded Detroit Pistons and the New York Knicks, who beat Boston in the semifinals last year, may feel some type of way about that.

The second-seeded Celtics will open against the seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday afternoon. See the full NBA playoffs bracket here.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

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This story was originally published April 18, 2026 at 4:11 PM.