The NBA season has reached the business end of the campaign with the playoffs set to begin ahead of crowning a champion for 2024.
The Denver Nuggets have made it to the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season as they look to defend the title they won last year, but they will have big competition if they want to become repeat champions this year.
We'll take a look at the top contenders to be crowned champions and provide you with our best free NBA betting picks to see if we can earn you some extra cash.
| NBA Championships 2024 |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Celtics | +170 | +165 | +165 |
| Denver Nuggets | +320 | +300 | +300 |
| Los Angeles Clippers | +1000 | +700 | +900 |
| Milwaukee Bucks | +1400 | +1200 | +1600 |
| Oklahoma City Thunder | +1400 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Dallas Mavericks | +1600 | +1800 | +1800 |
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NBA Finals 2024 information
- Play-in tournament: April 16th - April 19th 2024
- Playoffs begin: April 20th, 2024
- NBA Championship Finals to start between June 14th - 23rd 2024
- Denver Nuggets reigning champions
NBA Picks: Championship favorites 2024
Below you'll find a list of favorites to win the 2024 NBA Championship.
Boston Celtics - (+170)
It's getting late to bet on the best team in the NBA by record to take home the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Even after a short dip in form in March, Boston ended the campaign with a league-leading 64-18 record, looking like a hugely improved version of the team that reached the NBA Finals two seasons ago.
Boston is second in the NBA in points per game (120.6) and fifth in points allowed (109.1) while ranking first in offensive rating and third in defensive rating. Joe Mazzulla's squad has shown to be the most complete team in the NBA this season as they look to claim their first title since 2008 and first finals since 2010.
Having claimed the top seed, the Celtics will also carry home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs, and nobody has been better at home than Boston. The Celtics are 37-4 at TD Garden and Boston is 41-11 against the East, a major reason why it's the heavy favorite.
With Jayson Tatum, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White and Jaylen Brown all in fantastic form, they surely won't have a better chance of a championship than they do this year.
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Denver Nuggets - (+320)
The defending NBA champion Nuggets have been on a roll late in the season, as reigning MVP Nikola Jokic looks set to earn the award for a third time in four years and help them towards a repeat victory.
Denver sealed their spot as the two-seed in the West, having just missed out on top seed to Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Nuggets are a team nobody wants to see in the playoffs. Denver ranked 14th for total points scored per game this season, while defensively they rank sixth for points allowed. Jokic is still reigning supreme too, averaging 26.1 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 9.0 assists.
The biggest key for the Nuggets has been their health with Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., and Aaron Gordon all playing at a high level. They went all the way last year and this season have beaten Boston in both the games they played against each other which stands them in good stead if they were to meet again.
Los Angeles Clippers - (+1000)
The Clippers traded for a disgruntled James Harden early in the season and despite a rough start the LA veteran core figured it out and have vaulted up the NBA championship odds.
The team is still isolation-heavy with Harden and Kawhi Leonard hugely important figures in their style, but their fitness concerns mean that things could quickly fall apart in the post-season.
The offense is scoring an average of 115.6 points per game, with the 12th-most points in the NBA, while defensively they are allowing an average of 112.3 points, ranking them 10th in the NBA.
As always with a veteran group like this, injuries are a worry. Russell Westbrook is out, Leonard hurt his back against Minnesota, and Paul George has missed time this season. Also, Harden and George haven’t been known to light it up consistently in the playoffs, so that stigma will follow them.
The Clippers have as much talent as anyone, but someone besides Leonard (who has two championships) has to step up and they need two other top teams to have bad runs too.
Milwaukee Bucks - (+1600)
The Milwaukee Bucks swung for the fences, acquiring disgruntled Damian Lillard from Portland after talks with his preferred Miami destination stalled all summer. The first few weeks weren't amazing; however, after some initial fitness issues, the Bucks came charging back and reclaimed a second-seed spot to head into the post-season.
The Bucks fired rookie head coach Adrian Griffin back in January, after he oversaw Giannis Antetokounmpo in his most underwhelming run of form in years while the team struggled too despite the big arrival in pre-season,
Milwaukee promptly hired veteran Doc Rivers to replace Griffin, with the legendary coach looking to come back from criticisms from recent roles that have seen him struggling in postseason more often than not.
Doc's Bucks tenure has been very up-and-down, starting off disastrously before the Bucks showed a noticeably better effort on defense and wrestled back the East's No. 2 seed. But the team is clearly more beatable than in previous years.
Despite the quality of Giannis and Dame in their starting five, they can't do it all alone and it would take a monumental effort and a bit of luck for them to go all the way in 2024.
