Thunder favorites again
Oddsmakers and analysts entered the playoffs with the Oklahoma City Thunder listed as favorites to win the 2026 NBA championship and the No. 1 seed in the West for the third straight year. (espn.com) Media coverage framed the postseason around whether Oklahoma City can repeat and whether the Celtics will represent the East as expected. (espn.com)
Oklahoma City opened the 2026 playoffs as the title favorite again, with sportsbooks listing the Thunder at +110 after a 64-18 season. (espn.com) The Thunder finished with the National Basketball Association’s best record and locked up the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed for a third straight year. ESPN’s standings page showed Oklahoma City at 64-18, two games ahead of the 62-20 San Antonio Spurs. (espn.com) That top seed means Oklahoma City will wait for the Western Conference play-in to produce its first-round opponent. The league’s bracket lists the Thunder against the eventual No. 8 seed, with the playoffs beginning April 18 after the April 14-17 play-in tournament. (nba.com) The betting market says the path still runs through Oklahoma City, but it is tighter than a year ago. ESPN BET’s futures board had the Spurs second at +500 and the Boston Celtics third at +550 heading into the postseason. (espn.com) Boston remained the East favorite even without the conference’s best regular-season record. ESPN’s playoff page showed the Detroit Pistons at No. 1 in the East at 59-22, with Boston second at 55-26 and set to face the No. 7 seed. (espn.com; espn.com) That split explains the shape of the coverage around this bracket. Oklahoma City has the league’s best record and the shortest title odds, while Boston carries the shortest odds to come out of the East at +155 despite opening as the No. 2 seed there. (espn.com) The Thunder’s case starts with continuity and star production. ESPN’s team stats page listed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at 31.1 points and 6.6 assists per game, while Chet Holmgren led the club at 8.9 rebounds. (espn.com) The conference around them looks stronger than the standings gap suggests. San Antonio finished only two games back, Denver closed 53-28 on an 11-game winning streak, and the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets both cleared 50 wins. (espn.com) The bracket also leaves room for early volatility before Oklahoma City even tips off. In the West play-in, Portland already beat Phoenix 114-110 to claim the No. 7 seed and Golden State visits the Los Angeles Clippers on April 15 for the right to face Phoenix for the No. 8 spot. (espn.com) So the postseason starts with a familiar premise and a slightly different chase pack: Oklahoma City on top, Boston looming in the East, and everyone else trying to turn shorter odds into a longer spring. (espn.com; espn.com)
