Will Jalen Brunson, Knicks fend off toughest NBA rivals in 2026?
The NBA season kicks off tonight. We got the Rockets and Thunder to kick off the madness. And then if you stay up past your bedtime, it’s Lakers versus Warriors. Which teams have the best odds to dethrone OKC as champs? And who has the best odds to win MVP? Our New York Post betting offic Malik Smith is in studio with uh NBA Bets to put a little bit of cash in your pockets. What’s going on, man? You ready to do this? I’m feeling good, man. Let’s go. Season season ready to tip off. You ready to go? Jump shot ready. It’s it’s it’s a little wet and rusty, but you know, we getting there. Wet and rusty. Let’s get right into this thing. Uh, which teams have the best odds to be crowned this season’s NBA champs? Uh, so going into the season, uh, the OKC is obviously the favorite. They just won the championship. Uh, the Cavaliers and the Nuggets are right behind them. Okay. Um, I I really like, you know, the the the Nuggets to to dethrone OKC. We haven’t seen a repeat champion in a while. Um, I also like the Knicks, uh, to come out of the East. I think those two teams have a really good shot. Um, but there’s one team that’s a sleeper that I really have, what’s that? Uh, an eye on, and that’s the Warriors. Okay. Um, we saw the Warriors last season, uh, once they traded for Jimmy Butler, kind of go on a run. Um, injuries sort of derailed them in the playoffs, but, you know, if that team can stay healthy, I think that’s one team that you got to look out for. They’re 30 to1 and, um, that’s a pretty pretty long odds for a team that good. Yeah, you had the the Nuggets at plus 700 and I believe the Knicks at plus 1,200. Well, when it comes to the odds, uh, also the who was that last team? The Warriors plus 30,000. So, yeah, that’s definitely a sleeper team there. We’re going to move on to who’s going to be this year’s uh this year’s MVP. Last season, Canada took it. You know, Drake, hottest artist, SGA, last season’s MVP. But there’s some uh worthy favorites out there. And who do you like? Well, obviously SGA with as the reigning champion. I mean, and he won MVP. He won finals MVP. He was a leading scoreer. So, you know, you can’t really sleep on him. Jokic, I mean, the voters love him, right? This is an award that you got to think about who is going to vote on it. You also got to think about injuries, right? Because if you don’t make that 65game uh threshold, you’re not eligible for the award. So, you got to think about guys who can make it through the entire season. Obviously, those two guys are guys that you want to uh think about. Jiannis attenuko. He’s finished top five since 2018, 2019 season. Um he’s finished uh top three in the past three of the past four seasons. So he’s somebody that you always want to pay attention to. They got to win enough games for him to actually be in it. Um another guy that I think has a really good shot, Jaylen Brunson. Um you know, he’s cooking. He’s 100 to one. I mean, that’s just that’s ridiculous. I I I think Jaylen Brunson is good enough that he could take the league by storm if the Knicks can get as far as they expect to get in the regular season and in the playoffs. All right, but let’s go into these player prop bets. Give us the bets, the odds, like like what are the best player prop bets that you like going into this season? So, there’s a couple uh and they’re centered around one guy and that’s Victor Wyama. Okay. Um he’s an absolute freak of nature. Uh he apparently grew two more inches over the summer. Uh whether he actually grew or whether they’re just acknowledging that he’s as tall as he was when he came into the league. Um but he’s already the tallest guy in the NBA. Um he’s been, you know, hanging out with with Tibetan monks, you know, training with them. He’s getting his game ready. He looks awesome. Uh one of the best that I like is uh Wimyama to uh record at least three triple doubles this season. Um he already has three in his career. He had two in his rookie season. Remember last year he didn’t finish the season because he uh had the blood clots. So now that he’s cleared, he’s good to go. I think we’re going to see Rebeyama really flourish and take over um the NBA. Um, he’s obviously one of the most talented players we’ve ever seen. Um, he he can do it all. The other thing that I really like for Wimyama, uh, the the there’s a a prop for him to record at least one block in every game. Oh, wow. Now, I don’t know if you noticed that women has recorded a block in all but two of the games that he’s played in his entire career. Wonder what he was doing those games. He uh he one of them one of them I think he got two steals. You know, sometimes it’s like was it a steal? Was it a block? Maybe you got it got it low. one of the game he only played 21 minutes. So, him to record a block uh in every game is absolutely something that’s live. I mean, this guy I don’t understand why people keep trying him, but they do. And every time they do, he’s getting one. Nice. Hey, I love these bets. Love the prop bets. And there’s a lot of people that I feel like going to benefit off of that. Uh Malik, love when you come in studio, man. Appreciate you. Look, we got we even got the handshake right this time. We went to the D. Appreciate you coming in, man.
Malik Smith, The Post’s NBA betting expert, joins Brandon London in-studio to break down NBA betting odds before the 2025-26 season tips off on Tuesday night.
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