Early NBA Bets for the 2025-26 Season:
Congrats to OKC for lifting the trophy on Sunday in what will be a memorable game for both good and bad reasons. The game’s impact is twofold: OKC gets their title and sets up for a dynasty, but that’s more of a sport-talk-radio topic, and that is not why you are reading this. The betting impact is, of course, the awful injury that Tyrese Haliburton suffered in the first quarter. For the third time in four rounds, we saw a star in the already star-deprived East go down with a likely 2025-26 season-ending injury.
The lack of star power has already been documented in the East before losing Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton. In the void, it creates more volatility. That means I want to take a shot at a team that is well set up to rise in the East and possibly steal a trip to the finals at long odds.
Now I am sure you are expecting me to go into a case for the Magic here, who are interesting at 6-1, after their move to get Bane. But I am still not sold they have enough offensive talent to be able to win the East. Bane solves their 3-point problem, but Wagner has been too up and down for me to really invest in the team that does not have too many moves left to make.
Instead, let’s look further down at the Pistons, who are sitting at 16-1 to win the East. On the surface, they look like they may be a year away from their window truly opening, but with major hits to the Pacers and Celtics, who are the best teams in the East when healthy, and the issues in New York around their coach, now is the time to strike.
We saw the Pistons make a leap this year, mainly because of the improved play of Cade Cunningham. There is no reason to believe he will not be even better next season. Jaden Ivey, who missed the final 55 games of the season with an injury, was quietly awesome for this team. He ended the season averaging 17/4/4 while shooting over 40% from three. He’s another candidate to take a step forward. Ausar Thompson should only get better as well, and you have Marcus Sasser waiting in the wings. The young core is there to take a step forward.
But it is the additional flexibility that intrigues me the most with Detroit. They have three unrestricted free agents in Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dennis Schroder, whom they do have the ability to sign if they want to run it back. If they opt not to, they can be a player in the free agent market. Additionally, they have 17 tradable picks, four first-rounders and 13 second-rounders, which they could use to make a move.
All in all, they could contend as is with logical jumps from the younger players or opt to make a move to bolster the roster.
So that’s the case for them to be better, but it’s the 16-1 price that seals the deal for me. That makes them the sixth choice in the East, behind the Cavs, Knicks, Celtics, Magic and 76ers. Based on my numbers, that is wild. While I agree that the Cavs and Knicks should be meaningful favorites, I cannot get behind the Celtics, who are going to most likely make moves this summer that will make them worse next season to preserve the ability to maneuver in the future, or the 76ers who would need Embiid to magically be healthy.
Between the young core, the flexibility and the 16-1 price, I am happy to get a slice of the Pistons to win the East in my early 2026 NBA portfolio.
