This NBA season, both conferences appear to be incredibly competitive, as we could see any number of teams come out on top in the East and the West. Here, we look at the NBA Conference championship odds for both conferences and highlight the teams that have the best shots to reach the NBA Finals this year.

Looking at this season’s NBA championship odds, the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics are among the favorites to win not just the Eastern Conference, but to win the NBA Finals this year. The Bucks added Damian Lillard to join Giannis Antetokoumpo in the offseason via trade, which has made them incredibly dangerous offensively. Meanwhile, the Celtics have emerged as the best all-around team in this conference and will look to overcome their playoff shortcomings from the last couple of seasons. Right now, it looks like these teams are destined to meet in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Outside of those top two teams, several teams in the East can make a run to the NBA Finals. The Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, and Cleveland Cavaliers all have a ton of talent that can take them deep into the playoffs if they put everything together at the right time. They are all inside of +2000 to win the East, even if they are not as talented as the Bucks and Celtics.

The Sixers and Cavs are particularly interesting in Eastern Conference futures markets. If the Sixers can keep Joel Embiid on the floor for the playoffs, and the Cavs have a healthy Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley, those teams can outperform their regular season records in the playoffs. And with the Bucks and Celtics both suffering high-profile failures in recent postseasons, the Eastern Conference could be more wide open than many think.

In the Western Conference, the Denver Nuggets made it to the NBA Finals last season, dominating the rest of the West from the top-seed position. Nikola Jokic looked like an MVP once again, and he lived up to expectations in the playoffs, unlike the actual league MVP Joel Embiid. Denver is the favorite to win the West again in the 2023-24 NBA season, but they will need to hold off some serious competition if they want to repeat as Western Conference champions.

Behind the Nuggets, the LA Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, and Phoenix Suns are teams with the next best odds to win the West, with the health of their star players likely to determine how viable those teams are as conference title contenders. Oklahoma City is especially intriguing looking toward the playoffs, as this will be the first playoff experience of any significance for their nucleus of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren after they claimed the top seed in the West with their play in the regular season.

Bettors looking for teams at even longer odds to win the West have plenty of options to choose from. The Minnesota Timberwolves have Karl-Anthony Towns back from injury and could be dangerous to anyone they face. The Los Angeles Lakers have championship experience, led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis. And the Golden State Warriors are just a couple of seasons removed from their last title and could put a scare into the top seeds in the playoffs as well.