It’s that time of the year again basketball fans, with the NBA kicking off again this week for its 2023-24 season. With the past few months full of trades, the draft and pre-season matches, the preamble is over and the big show gets underway finally.
The Boston Celtics are looking like the team to beat after making some excellent additions to their squad over the off season. But what about the defending champion Denver Nuggets? And how will the introduction of one of the most talked about rookies of all time, Victor Wembanyama, impact the league? We look at the latest betting odds from bookmaker bet365 and break down the best bets to make on the NBA ahead of the season starting this week.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: October 24th, 10:30 P.M. (GMT)
Looking at the outright betting odds for the 2023-24 NBA season, bookmaker bet365 has the Milwaukee Bucks as the narrow favourite to claim the title, despite the side going out in the first round of the playoffs last season. At 4.50, they are slightly ahead of the team everyone is talking about, the Boston Celtics, who return 5.00 for a win overall. The Denver Nuggets are just behind on 5.50, before the Phoenix Suns come in at 7.00. There’s a significant drop off from these four sides to the fifth betting favourite, with the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers joint on 13.00.
We see two clear bets to make here ahead of the 2023-24 NBA season beginning. First, backing the Boston Celtics to go all the way and win the championship for the first time since 2008. With the addition of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis this season, combined with the MVP-potential of Jayson Tatum, there’s every chance the Celtics will simply overwhelm the rest of the league with their dominant starting five.
Simply put, the Celtics have added more size, more offense, and maintained the same level—if not more—of defense. Considering they made the conference finals last season and lost by one game, these improvements should put them in good stead for the upcoming season.
However, if there’s one team that can rival them and is worth a dark horse bet, it’s the Golden State Warriors. Despite going out in the conference semi-finals in May, they’re a championship side and provided they can stay healthy across the duration of the season, certainly have the team to produce a deep run in 2023-24. With outright betting odds of 13.00, they’re worth a punt.
