The Oklahoma City Thunder have emerged as one of the strongest betting favourites in an NBA Finals over the last two decades.
At bookies such as ESPN Bet and Vegas, the Thunder opened as -750 favourites against the Indiana Pacers, who are considered +525 underdogs heading into the Finals.
The only team with even shorter odds in the past 20 years was the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors, who were -1075 favourites over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Game 1 tips off Thursday in Oklahoma City, with the Thunder heavy favourites to start the series off with a win.
Oklahoma City advanced to the Finals after defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games, marking their first Finals appearance since 2012.
They’ll face a Pacers squad that started the season with 50-1 odds to win the championship but have defied expectations during the playoffs, capping their Eastern Conference Finals run with a Game 6 win over the New York Knicks on Saturday.
PACERS. THUNDER. 🍿
The #NBAFinals presented by @YouTubeTV are officially set!
Game 1: Thursday, June 5th at 8:30pm/et on ABC pic.twitter.com/vkBIUyf8UO
— NBA (@NBA) June 1, 2025
Should the Pacers go all the way, they would be the longest preseason long shots to win the championship in the last 40 years. However, history is not on their side.
Only two teams in the past 50 years that began the Finals as at least +200 underdogs have gone on to capture the championship.
One was the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons (+500) and the other was the 2018-19 Toronto Raptors (+230).
