How to get more value betting on the NBA’s best team this season

Oklahoma City Thunder capped their 2024-25 championship season with one of the best starts in NBA history, going 26-3 before Tuesday's loss to San Antonio Spurs. Despite this, the Thunder are such huge favorites to win all three championships (division, conference and NBA) that it doesn't make much sense to bet on them winning any of them.

However, with a little creativity and a variety of available offerings, there are ways to bet on Thunder futures that will generate enough energy to be worthwhile.

First, here's some historical perspective on how well OKC has started this season.

The Thunder's average scoring average of +16.1 points per game in the 2025-26 season is by far the highest single-season point differential to date in NBA history. The second-best scoring mark through 27 games was +14.1 points per game, set in the 1970–71 season. Milwaukee Bucks more than 50 years ago. Third on the list was the tie between the Michael Jordan-led Bulls in 1996-97 and the Kevin Garnett-led Celtics in 2007-08 at +13.9 points.

While the 1971–72 Bucks were unable to defend their 1971 championship and lost to Wilt Chamberlain/Jerry West. Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, every other team on this list won the NBA title that season. This puts the current Thunder team in extremely exclusive historical territory.

It's in the books, so finding value when betting on the Thunder is a challenge to say the least.

• The Thunder are nearly even money (+110) to win it all, with a significant lead over their next two opponents. Denver Nuggets (+600) and Houston Rockets (+1000).

• The Thunder are -140 favorites to win the Western Conference (Nuggets +450, Rockets +800) and a whopping -3000 favorite to win the Northwest Division (Nuggets +1500, Minnesota Timberwolves +30 000).

With the Thunder being such a big favorite for each team's future, below are two other ways to bet on a team that has much more value.

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Bookmaker DraftKings offers a couple of bets exclusively on the Thunder.

Thunder will win over 74 regular season games (+650)

Bet on Thunder to break Golden State WarriorsThe 2015-16 single-season winning record of 73-9 represents the future with the most value because it's entirely based on regular-season action and entirely under team control, but also makes significantly more sense than OKC's other bet on the future. The Thunder's record scoring differential indicates that opposing teams rarely manage to even maintain a close game, let alone win. There are relatively few teams that could be expected to challenge a healthy Thunder lineup in any game.

One way to quantify the gap between the Thunder and the rest of the regular season is our Basketball Power Index (BPI). The Thunder's defensive BPI (DBPI) is 8.6, which is higher than every other team's overall BPI (the Rockets are second at 7.5), and the Thunder's offensive BPI (OBPI) of 4.1 still ranks fourth overall. Thunder's overall BPI score of 12.7 is more than double that of third place. New York Knicks (5.9) or the fourth-place Nuggets (5.5).

Stats aside, the Thunder are young and already have a championship deep enough that they made up the bulk of their dominant record without their second best player. Jalen Williamsand whose MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has already publicly stated his desire to break the winning record for the season. They go into almost every game expecting a double-digit win, giving them enough margin to pull out wins even on days when they don't have their best games.

NBA Finals Accurate Score

For those who are convinced the Thunder will win the title again, this is another way to vote for them and get some juice in the process. DraftKings Sportsbook offers a “Clear Finals” bet where you'll have to correctly select the winner and runner-up. But if you went into this process believing the Thunder would win, you'll essentially just be picking which team you think will make it out of the Eastern Conference… but with the best odds.

• For example, the Knicks are +275 favorites to win the East. But a bet on the Thunder defeating the Knicks in the Finals returns +700.

• Likewise, going forward: Detroit is +400 to win the East, but the Thunder win Pistons +950.

• Cleveland is +550 to win the East, but the Thunder outplayed Cavaliers in the Final +1100.

For those looking to bet on the Thunder to win, this bet has value as it returns significantly more winnings. You can even hedge your bets if you want to bet on more than one Eastern Conference team.

For example, a bet of 20 units on the Thunder to win will return just over 20 units. But if you bet 10 on the Thunder over the Knicks and 10 on the Thunder over the Pistons and either of those things happen, the winnings will be either 70 or 95 units.

Even if you split your initial bet by three and the Thunder beat any of your three East team picks, you'll still make a bigger profit than betting on the Thunder outright. Of course, there is more risk here, but if you believe that only a small number of teams can legitimately come out of the East, it can still be a profitable bet.

Bottom line

Betting on teams other than the Thunder to win makes sense because as great as the Thunder are, the playoffs are a test and all the other contenders get a much better chance with OKC so far ahead.

However, if you only want to bet on the Thunder, their odds to win 74 games and in this particular NBA Finals market have value.