NBA Picks & Predictions
2025-26 NBA Season Picks & Predictions - Basketball Betting Odds
A new NBA season is almost upon us. The offseason brought us plenty of intrigue thanks to trades, free agency, and a new crop of rookies from this year’s NBA Draft. But soon the action will return to the court, which means, among other things, that it’s time to start betting on basketball again.
If you join Stake Sportsbook, it’s easy to bet on the NBA as soon as the season gets underway. Of course, before the 2025-26 NBA tips off, it’s a good idea to read our sports betting guide on Stake.com for more tips and tricks when forming your basketball betting slip!
NBA History & Previous Winners
The NBA dates back to 1946. In the decades since the league was founded, over 20 different franchises have won an NBA title. Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Oklahoma City Thunder are the reigning NBA champions. Of course, the Thunder has a long way to go to catch the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, who have 18 and 17 NBA titles, respectively, the most of any franchise in league history.
NBA League Format & Schedule
The 30 NBA franchises are split into two conferences, the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. Each conference is then split into three divisions of five teams each. During the regular season, each team plays 82 games. After the season, the top six teams in each conference are guaranteed a playoff spot. Teams 7-10 in each conference compete in the play-in tournament to determine the last two playoff spots in each conference. Once the eight playoff teams in each conference are finalised, each round of the playoffs is a best-of-seven game series, culminating in the NBA Finals between the Eastern Conference champion and the Western Conference champion.
Here is the schedule for each segment of the 2025-26 NBA season:
Preseason
The NBA preseason began on October 2, 2025, with most teams playing four or five games over a span of 2 weeks.
Regular Season
The 2025-26 NBA regular season begins on October 21, 2025, and ends on April 12, 2026.
All-Star Game
The 2026 NBA All-Star Game is scheduled for February 12, 2026.
Playoffs
The play-in tournament will be held from April 14-17, 2026, with the playoffs starting on April 18.
NBA Finals
Game 1 of the NBA Finals is scheduled for June 4, 2026.
2025-26 NBA Regular Season Picks & Expert Predictions
Even before NBA training camp started, Oklahoma City was a heavy favourite to repeat as champs, according to many NBA expert picks. The core of the team is back, and the long-term NBA odds favour the Thunder as the team to beat.
Of course, several of Oklahoma City’s top competitors have been hurt by injuries. There were several Achilles injuries during the playoffs last season, depriving the Boston Celtics of Jayson Tatum and the Indiana Pacers of Tyrese Haliburton for the upcoming season. That leaves the Eastern Conference weakened, even with teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks having high hopes for the season.
In the Western Conference, the Dallas Mavericks will be without Kyrie Irving until January because of an ACL injury. There are also questions about the Los Angeles Lakers, even with Luka Doncic joining LeBron James last season. It also remains to be seen if the Golden State Warriors are a true contender because of the age of Golden State’s stars, like Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler. On paper, Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets figure to be the team most likely to prevent the Thunder from winning back-to-back titles.
Notable Trades & Player Rosters
There was no shortage of big trades and roster shakeups during the offseason. The highlight was Kevin Durant joining the Houston Rockets. The Orlando Magic also made a big move by acquiring Desmond Bane. Some of the other notable transactions during the offseason include Kristaps Porziņģis joining the Atlanta Hawks, CJ McCollum going to the Washington Wizards, and Collin Sexton joining the Charlotte Hornets.
Beyond those trades, the most notable acquisition this summer was top-overall pick Cooper Flagg. He was selected by the Dallas Mavericks and is the clear favourite to win NBA Rookie of the Year. But whether he can make up for the absence of Irving and turn Dallas into a serious title contender remains to be seen.
Types of NBA Bets & How to Bet on Basketball on Stake
Betting on the NBA at Stake Sportsbook is as simple as it gets.
First, sign up for a Stake account.
Then deposit funds into that account.
From there, click on the NBA button to get a full list of upcoming games and betting options.
Of course, we recommend that you have a budget and a plan in place before you start betting. It doesn’t hurt to use an established system like the Kelly Criterion strategy to help guide your bets, especially if you’re new to sports betting.
When you're ready to start betting, you’ll find Stake has a wide selection of options from handicap betting to win totals to outrights. If you’re not familiar with NBA betting, read our basketball betting guide, which will teach you how to understand basketball odds and explain the most common types of bets:
Point Spread (Spread) - Betting against the spread is among the most popular bet types for NBA fans. With spread bets, the favoured team must win by a certain margin to win the bet. If that team doesn’t win by a margin that’s greater than the spread for the game, the losing team wins the bet just by keeping it close.
Moneyline (Outright) - Making moneyline picks is a little simpler than betting against the spread. This bet only requires betting on the outright winner of the game. The catch is that the odds and payout won’t be the same for each team. The payout is smaller if you take the moneyline of the favoured team and larger for the underdog.
Total (Over/Under) - Rather than betting on winners and losers, a total bet is concerned with the combined points of both teams. There is an over/under for every game, with bettors placing a wager on whether the total points in that game will be higher or lower than that total.
Parlays & Multibets - A parlay is a great way to increase the payout of a bet. It ties multiple bets into a larger bet, increasing the payout more than a series of single bets. However, if just 1 bet loses, the entire parlay loses, so it’s the ultimate example of a high-risk, high-reward bet.
Proposition Bets (Player Props) - Player props are hugely popular among NBA fans. These prop bets are typically based on the number of points, rebounds, or assists a player has in a game. There are also prop bets that are based on certain events in a game, including whether a team will lead at halftime and win the game.
Live Betting (In Play) - Even after a game begins, there are betting lines available, allowing fans to make live bets in the middle of a game. This allows fans to watch the start of an NBA game and then make a bet on how the game will end. Just keep in mind that live betting is a little different from pre-game betting. The spread, over/under, and moneyline odds all change throughout the game, so you can’t get on the pre-game odds once the game begins.
Bet on Basketball Live & Watch NBA Free on Stake
At Stake, you can watch a live stream of NBA games at no extra cost. Just look at a list of upcoming games, and if you see the stream logo next to any of those games, you can live stream it on the Stake platform once the game begins. This is because we want you to be able to track your bets. Plus, by live streaming NBA games, it’ll be much easier to see how games unfold and place live bets on that game.
Deposit and Withdrawal Methods for Betting on Basketball
There are several methods of depositing and withdrawing funds available at Stake. As a crypto-friendly platform, we make it easy to use platforms like Moonpay and Swapped to trade several types of cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, USDT, EOS, Doge, LTC, TRX, SOL, and more.
Since Stake uses mesh integration, it’s safe to bet using crypto. You are also free to use a selection of local currencies, including Canadian Dollars, Turkish Lira, Vietnamese Dong, Argentine Pesos, Chilean Pesos, Mexican Pesos, USD in Ecuador, and Indian Rupees.
Luckily, whether you use crypto or local currencies, you can access your account using a passkey to make signing in easy and secure. Likewise, the Stake Vault ensures that your funds are always safe when betting at Stake Sportsbook.
Stake Sportsbook Promotions, VIP & Responsible Betting
There are several reasons why Stake is an elite online sportsbook when it comes to betting on the NBA. It begins with a wide array of bonus opportunities and promotions. These bonuses can include a welcome bonus for new users, a reload bonus for returning customers, a rakeback bonus, a weekly raffle, and various casino challenges open to everyone.
The bottom line is that we always want customers to get the most out of their winning bets. Plus, with Stake news, we make sure that our customers have access to the latest news and information they need to place well-informed bets.
For some of our most loyal and active users, Stake also has a VIP club. We want all of our users to ask questions about what makes our VIP club so special and the various levels of the VIP club. There is also a customer support guide that can tell you everything you need to know about using the platform and what VIP benefits Stake offers, including whether you might have access to a VIP host. We also offer a wide range of sports and betting markets, so there is something for everyone.
Last but not least, we always urge our customers to bet responsibly on our platform. We offer everyone resources like Stake Smart to give our customers the tools to make good choices, so that while they have fun while betting, they are also practicing safe gambling habits at all times.
