Key Takeaways
- According to opening DraftKings championship odds reported by Reuters, the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder opened as co-favorites at +250.
- For fans who watched New York survive pressure, close the Finals in five games and turn Brunson into the defining player of June, that initially looked strange.
- At first glance, San Antonio opening above the team that had just beaten it in the Finals looked strange.
- The Knicks possessed the most important thing coming out of June 2026.
Editor’s note: This article analyzes the opening 2026-27 NBA championship odds reported after the 2026 NBA Finals. Futures markets change throughout the offseason as trades, injuries, roster moves and other developments occur.
The New York Knicks just ended a 53-year championship wait. They beat the San Antonio Spurs in five games, closed the 2026 NBA Finals with a 94-90 road win, and watched Jalen Brunson turn Game 5 into a Finals MVP coronation.
Then the opening NBA 2026-27 title odds arrived.
Story at a glance
NBA 2026-27 Opening Title Odds at a Glance
The opening DraftKings market reported by Reuters placed the leading contenders like this:
The Knicks Won the Championship, but Futures Odds Look Forward
The first thing fans need to understand is simple.
Why the Spurs Opened Like the Team to Beat
At first glance, San Antonio opening above the team that had just beaten it in the Finals looked strange.
Game 3 Showed Why the Market Still Believed in San Antonio
The Spurs’ Finals loss did not erase the evidence of how dangerous they could become.
San Antonio’s Finals Loss May Actually Strengthen Its Long-Term Case
The Spurs did not lose because they lacked talent.
Read next Kon Knueppel’s 273 Threes Are Coming Back, but Can He Rescue Charlotte’s Four-Game Slide?
New York was not first.
It was not second.
It was not even third.
According to opening DraftKings championship odds reported by Reuters, the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder opened as co-favorites at +250. The Boston Celtics followed at +550. The defending champion Knicks opened fourth at +700.
For fans who watched New York survive pressure, close the Finals in five games and turn Brunson into the defining player of June, that initially looked strange.
But championship odds do not work like a trophy ceremony.
They are not designed to reward what happened last season.
They are designed to price what could happen next.
Fans can follow the official NBA website for league schedules, standings, player news and season developments.
The Sports Encounter will also continue tracking the championship race through our NBA Hub, including offseason moves, contender analysis, player stories, schedules and the changing balance of power across both conferences.
NBA 2026-27: Why Are the Champion Knicks Only Fourth?
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Who won the 2026 NBA championship? | The New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs in five games. |
| Who opened as 2026-27 title favorites? | San Antonio and Oklahoma City opened tied at +250 in the DraftKings odds reported by Reuters. |
| Where did the Knicks open? | Fourth at +700, behind San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Boston. |
| Why were the Knicks not favorites? | Futures markets were pricing next-season projection, development curves, repeat difficulty, roster strength and superstar upside rather than simply rewarding the previous champion. |
| Were the Knicks being dismissed? | No. A +700 opening price still placed New York firmly among the leading championship contenders. |
NBA 2026-27 Opening Title Odds at a Glance
The opening DraftKings market reported by Reuters placed the leading contenders like this:
| Team | Opening Title Odds | Why the Market Liked Them |
|---|---|---|
| San Antonio Spurs | +250 | Young Finals team built around Victor Wembanyama with substantial development upside. |
| Oklahoma City Thunder | +250 | Elite young core, depth, two-way flexibility and proven regular-season strength. |
| Boston Celtics | +550 | Established contender profile and significant roster pedigree despite playoff disappointment. |
| New York Knicks | +700 | Defending champion with Jalen Brunson, proven late-game execution and championship chemistry. |
| Indiana Pacers | +2800 | Opened in the next tier of contenders. |
| Denver Nuggets | +2800 | Opened alongside Indiana in the next tier. |
Those numbers represented the opening market rather than permanent rankings. Trades, free agency, injuries, training camp developments and roster changes can move championship prices substantially before opening night.
The Knicks owned the trophy.
The Spurs and Thunder owned the strongest opening projection.
That split was the real story.
The Knicks Won the Championship, but Futures Odds Look Forward
The first thing fans need to understand is simple.
Title odds are not rankings of last season’s achievements.
New York earned the 2026 championship on the floor. Nobody can price that away.
The Knicks beat San Antonio in five games and closed the season with Brunson producing one of the defining closeout performances in franchise history.
Our championship report revisits how New York finished its 53-year title wait with a 94-90 Game 5 victory.
Next-season odds answer different questions.
Can the champion repeat?
Can the roster stay healthy?
Will rivals improve?
Did the championship run reveal sustainable dominance or a team that mastered one particular playoff path?
Does a younger contender have another level to reach?
How much better could the opposition become by the following spring?
That is why an opening futures board can look disrespectful to a champion while still making sense as a projection.
New York had already proved what it could do.
San Antonio and Oklahoma City were being priced partly for what they might become.
Why the Spurs Opened Like the Team to Beat
At first glance, San Antonio opening above the team that had just beaten it in the Finals looked strange.
Then Victor Wembanyama enters the conversation.
The Spurs lost the championship, but their long-term market profile remained enormous because their best player was still moving upward.
Wembanyama already changes how opponents attack, defend, rebound and finish around the basket.
He is more than an individual scorer.
His size, reach and skill can change the geometry of an entire matchup.
That matters in any forward-looking championship projection.
The question was not only whether San Antonio had been better than New York in June 2026.
It was whether San Antonio might become better by May and June 2027.
Game 3 Showed Why the Market Still Believed in San Antonio
The Spurs’ Finals loss did not erase the evidence of how dangerous they could become.
The clearest example came at Madison Square Garden.
With San Antonio already trailing the series 2-0, Wembanyama produced 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three blocks as the Spurs earned a 115-111 Game 3 victory over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
It became San Antonio’s only victory of the Finals, but the performance mattered beyond one night.
The Spurs moved the ball more cleanly, reduced turnovers, found better ways to get Wembanyama toward the rim and received a major secondary contribution from Stephon Castle.
For a futures market trying to imagine the next version of San Antonio, Game 3 offered evidence.
The Spurs were not merely a young team that happened to reach the Finals.
They had already shown that they could solve the eventual champions for stretches on basketball’s biggest stage.
San Antonio’s Finals Loss May Actually Strengthen Its Long-Term Case
The Spurs did not lose because they lacked talent.
They lost because New York handled championship pressure better.
That distinction matters.
Young contenders often accumulate difficult playoff experiences before they learn how to control championship possessions.
San Antonio received an extreme version of that education.
The Spurs learned what Finals pressure feels like.
They learned how quickly a large lead can disappear.
They learned what happens when offensive execution tightens late.
And they learned how relentless a Brunson-led opponent can become when a game reaches its final possessions.
The most painful lesson arrived in Game 4, when San Antonio led by 29 before New York produced the largest comeback in NBA Finals history and won 107-106.
That loss became scar tissue.
It could also become useful scar tissue.
The opening market appeared to treat the 2026 Finals as a stage in San Antonio’s development rather than evidence that the Spurs had reached their ceiling.
The Spurs Have the Rarest Asset in Basketball
Every championship discussion eventually reaches star power.
San Antonio possesses the kind of star who can bend the matchup itself.
Wembanyama’s size, defensive reach, mobility and offensive range make normal playoff calculations harder.
Opponents cannot simply copy New York’s approach and assume the same result.
The Knicks had the correct combination of physical pressure, wing strength, Brunson’s shot-making, late-game composure and championship belief.
Other teams may not possess that same mixture.
That was one reason San Antonio’s opening odds reflected more than its 4-1 Finals defeat.
They reflected what a more experienced Wembanyama-led roster might look like one year later.
Why the Thunder Also Opened as 2026-27 Co-Favorites
Oklahoma City being tied with San Antonio at the top also made sense when viewed through projection rather than emotion.
The Thunder entered the 2026 postseason with many of the characteristics championship markets favor: youth, depth, defensive activity, shot creation and lineup flexibility.
They did not win the Western Conference.
San Antonio ended their run.
But one postseason defeat does not automatically destroy a strong long-term projection when the roster still has room to develop.
Oklahoma City remained the kind of team capable of winning across an 82-game season while possessing enough lineup flexibility to solve different postseason opponents.
Oklahoma City Still Looked Built for 82 Games and Four Playoff Rounds
The Thunder’s appeal was never only about one star or one postseason memory.
It was the structure of the roster.
Teams that can defend, run, space the floor and maintain pressure through several lineup combinations tend to remain highly regarded.
Oklahoma City fit that profile.
The question after the 2026 postseason was not whether the Thunder remained good enough to contend.
They did.
The question was whether they could solve the final layer of Western Conference resistance if San Antonio’s ceiling continued rising.
TSE followed that battle before the Finals in our coverage of how the Thunder-Spurs Western Conference fight shaped New York’s Finals opponent.
Why the Champion Knicks Opened Fourth
Then comes the New York question.
How could the champion that just beat San Antonio still open behind San Antonio before the following season began?
The answer was not that the Knicks were weak.
The answer was that repeating is brutally difficult.
The modern NBA brings roster pressure, injury volatility, tax decisions, matchup-specific playoff paths and rivals who spend an entire offseason studying the champion.
Winning one title proves a team can climb the mountain.
It does not guarantee the same route remains open.
The Knicks moved from hunter to hunted.
Every opponent would treat New York differently.
Every scouting report would begin with Brunson.
Every late-game possession would carry championship-level attention.
Every road crowd would see the Knicks as a measuring-stick opponent.
That changes a season.
Brunson Gives New York a Serious Repeat Case
Jalen Brunson remains the strongest argument against dismissing the Knicks.
His Game 5 performance against San Antonio supplied the ultimate postseason proof.
He scored 45 points, controlled the closing stages and provided the late-game foundation every championship team needs.
That matters because postseason basketball becomes uncomfortable.
Systems break down.
First options get denied.
Spacing disappears.
Role players tighten.
Great defenses force teams into possessions they would rather avoid.
Champions need somebody capable of making those possessions work anyway.
Brunson proved he could.
New York opening fourth therefore did not mean the market viewed its title as a fluke.
A +700 opening price still placed the Knicks firmly inside the leading championship tier.
New York’s Strength Is Chemistry, Not Mystery
The Knicks were no longer sneaking up on anyone.
That was both an advantage and a challenge.
The advantage was that their identity was real.
Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart and the rest of the rotation had already demonstrated toughness, shot-making, defensive versatility and emotional stability.
This was not a championship built on one hot week.
The challenge was that opponents now possessed a full championship run of film.
They knew how New York wanted to close games.
They knew where Brunson preferred to operate.
They knew where Towns could hurt them.
They knew how heavily the Knicks fed on physical rhythm and late-game confidence.
Repeating would require adding something new without losing what had already worked.
The Celtics Factor: Why Boston Opened Third
Boston sitting ahead of New York was another part of the opening board likely to irritate Knicks fans.
The Celtics had suffered postseason disappointment.
But futures markets do not always forget several years of contender-level performance because of one playoff exit.
Boston still carried roster pedigree, star equity and the memory of sustained high-level performance.
That did not mean Boston had accomplished more than New York in 2026.
The Knicks had the championship banner.
Boston did not.
It simply meant the opening market still viewed the Celtics as possessing a strong enough baseline to return to the top of the Eastern Conference.
What the Opening NBA 2026-27 Odds Said About the New Power Map
The most interesting part of the opening board was not merely the order.
It was the different model represented by each contender.
1. San Antonio Spurs: The Young Superstar Ceiling
San Antonio represented the future-arrives-early model.
The Spurs had already reached the Finals.
Their best player could still improve substantially.
Their defeat to New York could become fuel rather than evidence against them.
2. Oklahoma City Thunder: The Deep Roster Machine
Oklahoma City represented the depth-and-system model.
The Thunder could pressure opponents through athleticism, flexibility, defensive activity and lineup variety.
Even after losing to San Antonio, they remained structured to win large numbers of games and adapt across playoff matchups.
3. New York Knicks: The Champion Identity Model
New York represented the chemistry-and-shot-maker model.
The Knicks possessed the guard who owned late possessions.
They had a group that survived Finals pressure.
They had proof.
The argument was whether proof deserved to outweigh projection.
That is where supporters and futures markets often disagree.
Were the Knicks Being Disrespected?
Knicks fans had a reasonable emotional case for feeling slighted.
Their team had just won the championship and still opened behind the team it defeated.
But “disrespect” was probably too simple.
The opening market was not saying New York could not repeat.
It was pricing San Antonio and Oklahoma City partly on younger development curves and projected upside while still giving Boston significant contender equity.
That created an interesting role reversal for the Knicks.
They had spent years chasing credibility.
Now they were the defending champions with something else to prove.
For the beginning of the Finals story, revisit how New York established control of the series before San Antonio’s Game 3 response.
What Could Move NBA 2026-27 Championship Odds?
Opening futures odds are only the first draft of a season-long market.
Continue the NBA Story
Several factors can reshape the board quickly.
Offseason Trades
One significant trade can alter an entire conference.
A contender adding an elite scorer, defender, rim protector or floor organizer can dramatically change how its championship case is viewed.
Free Agency
Depth matters during a four-round playoff run.
Bench shooting, secondary ball-handling and defensive coverage can move a team from the edge of contention into the championship conversation.
Health
No projection survives major injuries unchanged.
A star player’s surgery, rehabilitation timeline or long-term availability can alter a team’s season before opening night.
Development Curves
This was particularly important for San Antonio and Oklahoma City.
If their young stars returned stronger, sharper and more composed, their opening title cases would become more convincing.
Championship Fatigue
The Knicks faced the emotional cost of defending a championship.
That means shorter recovery time, heavier attention and every opponent treating New York like a measuring stick.
What Fans Should Watch Next
The months after the opening odds would reveal whether the market had been too cautious about New York or too aggressive about San Antonio and Oklahoma City.
1. New York’s Rotation
Could the Knicks preserve their championship chemistry while building enough depth for another long postseason?
2. Wembanyama’s Development
If Wembanyama returned with better late-game control and greater offensive command, San Antonio’s opening favorite status would become easier to understand.
3. Oklahoma City’s Response
The Thunder needed to convert conference-finals frustration into practical improvement rather than simply another strong regular season.
4. Boston’s Reset
The Celtics opened near the top of the market, but their next moves would determine whether that position remained justified.
5. The First Knicks-Spurs Rematch
The first regular-season meeting between New York and San Antonio would carry more than standings value.
It would test whether the Finals had permanently changed the matchup or simply paused it.
The league later placed the defending champions and San Antonio together on Christmas Day, one of the marquee dates highlighted in TSE’s guide to the 2026-27 NBA schedule and biggest games to watch.
Why the 2026 Finals Still Matter to the 2026-27 Race
A futures board tries to look forward, but the best evidence often comes from what teams have already done under pressure.
The 2026 Finals supplied plenty of it.
New York showed that it could win close games, erase large deficits and trust Brunson late.
San Antonio showed that its young roster was already capable of reaching the championship stage and beating New York at Madison Square Garden.
The series also demonstrated that the gap between a 4-1 result and a genuinely competitive Finals can be smaller than the final score suggests.
Games 2 and 4 were decided by one point.
Game 3 was a four-point Spurs win.
Game 5 was decided by four.
The Finals became one of the NBA’s biggest television events in years, a wider impact TSE examined in our analysis of why the Knicks-Spurs Finals generated such significant audience interest.
NBA 2026-27 Opening Title Odds FAQs
Who opened as favorites to win the 2026-27 NBA championship?
According to the opening DraftKings odds reported by Reuters after the 2026 Finals, the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder were co-favorites at +250.
Where did the Knicks open in the 2026-27 title market?
The defending champion New York Knicks opened fourth at +700.
Why did the champion Knicks open only fourth?
Futures markets price the following season rather than reward the previous one. San Antonio and Oklahoma City carried significant youth and development upside, while Boston retained a strong established-contender profile.
Did the Knicks win the 2026 NBA Finals?
Yes. New York defeated San Antonio in five games to win its first NBA championship since 1973.
Who won the 2026 NBA Finals MVP?
Jalen Brunson won Finals MVP after leading New York’s championship run and scoring 45 points in the Game 5 closeout victory.
Did San Antonio beat New York during the Finals?
Yes. The Spurs won Game 3 at Madison Square Garden 115-111 behind a 32-point performance from Victor Wembanyama. It was San Antonio’s only victory of the series.
Why were the Spurs favored after losing the Finals?
The opening market reflected San Antonio’s youth, Wembanyama’s development potential and the belief that Finals experience could accelerate the team’s progression rather than represent its ceiling.
Do opening NBA title odds remain the same all season?
No. Futures markets move throughout the offseason and regular season in response to trades, injuries, roster changes, team performance and other developments.
Is this article betting advice?
No. The odds are discussed only as sports-market context and as a way to understand how contenders were being evaluated after the 2026 NBA Finals. The Sports Encounter does not provide betting recommendations.
NBA 2026-27 Opening Odds: Final Word
The Knicks possessed the most important thing coming out of June 2026.
The championship.
The Spurs and Thunder possessed something futures markets often prize before a new season.
Projection.
That is why New York could simultaneously be the defending champion and only fourth on the opening title board.
The apparent contradiction disappears once the odds are understood for what they are.
A forward-looking argument.
San Antonio offered the Wembanyama ceiling.
Oklahoma City offered the deep-roster model.
Boston carried established contender credibility.
New York offered proof, chemistry and Brunson’s late-game nerve.
The Knicks had already answered one question in June.
Could they finally become champions again?
Yes.
The next question was harder.
Could they do it again when every team in the NBA knew exactly what was coming?
Follow The Sports Encounter’s NBA Hub for season coverage, championship analysis, schedules, player stories and the evolving 2026-27 title race.
NBA 2026-27
- Kon Knueppel’s 273 Threes Are Coming Back, but Can He Rescue Charlotte’s Four-Game Slide?
- NBA Roundup: Pelicans End Memphis’ Perfect Start as All 30 Teams Play Before Election Day
- Max Strus Returns as Clippers’ Five-Game Slide Tests Whether One Healthy Shooter Can Change Their Season
- NBA Roundup: Dončić Drops 45, Curry-Less Warriors Unleash Rookie Star, Celtics Win Fifth Straight
- Injury-Hit Thunder Meets Rockets as Wembanyama, Unbeaten Grizzlies Headline NBA Saturday Night Action
