NBA Finals Exact Matchups: Exploring Latest NBA Finals Odds As Knicks, Thunder Become Favorites
Which two teams will play in the 2025 NBA Finals? Six teams remain in the NBA playoffs and they each have a chance to advance to the championship round. Mark Harris takes a look at the most interesting NBA Finals Matchup Exacta bets as we enter the conference finals.
Mark Harris
| 6 min
NBA Finals Exact Matchups: Exploring Latest NBA Finals Odds As Knicks, Thunder Become Favorites
Six teams are still standing in this tumultuous NBA playoffs, and it feels like each team has a puncher's chance of winning the NBA Finals at this point.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are +135 favorites to cut down the nets in June, but they still have to get past the Denver Nuggets in Game 7. Even if OKC does advance, its next two postseason rounds will be anything but a walk in the park.
Depth of talent, injuries, and overall league parity have shaken up the NBA playoffs like a snow globe. Predictability is out the window and we're left with some unexpected potential NBA Finals matchups.
Through all the carnage, the Indiana Pacers and Minnesota Timberwolves are the first teams to punch their tickets to the conference finals. These two teams were not expected to return to the final four, and yet they've done it by beating some of the NBA's biggest stars in five-game series. Could Indiana and Minnesota avenge last year's conference finals defeats and make in an All-Midwest NBA Finals?
Pacers-Timberwolves wouldn't be the only surprising NBA Finals matchup, either. FanDuel Sportsbook has odds for nine different NBA Finals Team Exactas, and I've highlighted five of the most interesting potential NBA Finals.
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NBA Finals Matchup Exacta Odds
- Knicks vs. Thunder: +260
- Pacers vs. Thunder: +270
- Knicks vs. Timberwolves: +600
- Pacers vs. Timberwolves: +650
- Celtics vs. Thunder: +800
- Pacers vs. Nuggets: +1200
- Knicks vs. Nuggets: +1200
- Celtics vs. Timberwolves: +1700
- Celtics vs. Nuggets: +3000
New York Knicks vs. Oklahoma City Thunder +260
Let's start with the odds-on NBA Finals Exacta favorite in Knicks-Thunder. So many storylines would spring up between these blue and orange teams: big market vs. small market, the guard matchup between Jalen Brunson and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, old and grizzled Tom Thibodeau facing up-and-coming Mark Daigneault, and New York seeking to end a 52-year championship drought while OKC aims to win its first title in franchise history (I'm not counting the Sonics championship).
Ironically, neither of these teams has even advanced past the second round yet. The Knicks are favored to defeat the Celtics on Friday night, but things get real hairy if the series turns back to Boston. And while the Thunder are also favorites for Game 7 on Sunday, beating Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in a do-or-die scenario will take everything they've got.
New York Knicks vs. Minnesota Timberwolves +600
This would definitely be the spiciest NBA Finals matchup. Here's a quick rundown of what we would see in a Knicks-Timberwolves Finals:
- Karl-Anthony Towns and Julius Randle facing their old teams after they were traded for one another. It would be a revenge series for Donte DiVincenzo as well.
- Anthony Edwards talking trash to the crowd at Madison Square Garden. Elite television.
- Former New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez sitting courtside as Timberwolves owner.
- Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau vs. his old team.
Those would just be some of the fun themes in this series. Knicks-Timberwolves would be great theater, but more importantly, it would be great basketball. These are two physical, tough teams that have the offensive skill to light up the scoreboard and the high-end defenders to grind out a win.
Add in the big market vs. small market aspect and each team's championship droughts, and this would be a must-watch series.
Indiana Pacers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves +650
Pacers-Timberwolves for the championship would be the dream for NBA League Pass junkies. I highlighted this series back when its exacta odds were +3800, and this potential Midwest showdown seems more and more likely with each passing day.
Even though the Thunder and Knicks are the favorites to reach the NBA Finals, they still have to win their second-round series. Indiana and Minnesota got that taken care of, and because of their quick series wins, both teams will be fully rested for the conference finals. That rest could be the difference in a game early on, and that might be enough for them to move on to the championship round.
Plus, both teams can reasonably go eight deep. Their overall depth of talent means they can withstand a subpar performance from Edwards or Tyrese Haliburton and won't have to overextend their superstars to win, unlike New York and Denver. The Pacers and Timberwolves also have great secondary options in Randle and Pascal Siakam, and Edwards and Haliburton add the superstar flair necessary for a good NBA Finals.
Boston Celtics vs. Oklahoma City Thunder +800
For as unpredictable as the 2025 NBA playoffs have been, it would be pretty funny if the two 60-win favorites burst through the parity to meet in June.
Many predicted a Celtics-Thunder Finals matchup in the preseason, and those predictions aren't dead just yet! While both teams face elimination games on Friday and Sunday, they both have the depth and talent to win their conference and meet in the Finals.
It makes sense why Boston and Oklahoma City were valued so highly entering the regular season and postseason. Both teams are loaded with size, depth, youth, shooting, and can defend at all levels. SGA figures to give the Thunder that extra juice, but the Celtics have fared well without Jayson Tatum this year.
The Celtics and Thunder still need to get to the conference finals, but if they do, they will be favored to beat the Pacers and Timberwolves, so don't count it out.
Indiana Pacers vs. Denver Nuggets +1200
If Denver can escape OKC with a win this weekend, Pacers-Nuggets could be on the board.
Indiana's youth against the playoff-hardened Denver duo of Jokic and Jamal Murray would be a fantastic way to wrap up the season. The Nuggets would have the best player in the series and the championship experience, while the Pacers could boast their depth, shot-making, and a good bit of postseason experience in their own right.
The NBA Finals has never been a matchup of four seeds, but Indiana and Denver have what it takes to buck that trend. No
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