How Oddsmakers View Celtics’ Eastern Conference Chances For 2025-26
The Boston Celtics reign as the NBA’s champions officially came to an end on Sunday night when the Oklahoma City Thunder took down the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. Now, all attention has turned to the upcoming 2025-26 season.
Things will look different for the Celtics next season. Not only are changes going to be made to the roster thanks to the second apron of the league’s new salary cap, but they are also set to be without superstar forward for the majority of the season after he suffered a ruptured Achilles in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Without Tatum, Boston’s status as a potential title contender is up in the air. He could conceivably return late in the year, but it remains to be seen how aggressive the Celtics will be when it comes to getting him back on the court.
In the meantime, it will be up to Jaylen Brown to lead Boston forward, and he seems more than capable of keeping the team afloat in Tatum’s absence. While several players could get moved this offseason, the C’s should have enough talent in place to find their way into the playoffs next year.
With the 2025 Finals now over, oddsmakers have turned their attention to the upcoming campaign. As a result, the odds for the Eastern Conference finalist have been released, with the Celtics having the fourth lowest odds to find their way back to the Finals. Here’s who comes in ahead of them (odds courtesy of FanDuel):
Cavaliers: +270
Knicks: +300
Magic: +440
Celtics: +450
The odds for the 2026 finals winner have also been released, with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets joining the aforementioned three squads as the only teams with lower odds to win a title than the Celtics.
So even though Boston is set to enter a potentially transformational offseason, oddsmakers are still high on their ceiling next season. And who knows, maybe they could embrace their newfound underdog status and shock the league next year.