Charlie Cummings breaks down his favorite team and individual future bets on DraftKings Sportsbook for the 2025-26 NBA season.
There’s only a week left until the NBA season begins. And that means futures, futures, futures. It’s a loaded field from awards to team props and everything in between. I’m going to break down my favorite bets for each major award and some team bets. Without further ado, let’s get into it.
Best 2025-26 NBA MVP Bet
It’s going to be a strange MVP field. Nikola Jokic has the inside track at +220 to win his fourth MVP in six years, including two runner-up finishes. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander comes in at +275 to win back-to-back MVP awards. Luka Doncic is third in line at +380 to claim the award for the first time. Giannis Antetokounmpo, fourth in odds, is the first of the real long shots.
One thing we forget is that this is a media award. And the NBA media is awfully picky. Looking at the three players in front of Giannis, their cases are ripe for the picking.
Jokic’s case will be up against the history of the entire league. Here are the five players with four MVP trophies: Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The true inner circle of the best players of all time. Players like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson have been held to three. Will the gatekeepers of NBA history view a fourth MVP award as a crowning that Jokic does not yet deserve? And have they grown tired of recognizing him?
Shai’s case is tricky for two reasons. One, the Thunder won 68 games. That’s a tough bar to clear two seasons in a row. Two, he set his own bar incredibly high by scoring 32.7 PPG on a 52/38/90 shooting split. Since the Thunder ran their team back, he’d have to up the bar as a team or individually, perhaps both, to capture the award. No easy feat.
Doncic will have the numbers. His team will be great. He also plays with LeBron James. Unless LeBron misses significant time or the Lakers are a 60-ish win team, his case is not great. That’s what happens when you share the court with the GOAT.
That leaves Giannis. It’s been four seasons since he won his back-to-back MVP awards, falling behind the Jokic/Embiid/SGA tier of players. But he’s quietly become even better since. Ages 26-30 Giannis has averaged 30 PPG, 11.6 RPG, 6.1 APG, 1.0 SPG, and 1.1 BPG. It’s a level of all-around production that has rarely happened in league history over one year, let alone four. And man, this Bucks team is ugly.
Damian Lillard’s name doesn’t have the cachet it used to, but he was viewed as a good second star to Giannis. Without Khris Middleton or Dame, this is truly Giannis’ team. Myles Turner is a great starter but no All-Star. Bobby Portis is a great sixth man. The rest of the team is rough. It carves out space for Giannis to put up absurd numbers, and if the Bucks are a 46-50 win playoff team, Giannis will get all of the credit. He’s got the talent and the narrative path to win his third MVP.
Best 2025-26 NBA DPOY Bet
There’s good reason why Victor Wembanyama is a -175 favorite to win the DPOY. If he plays the required 65 games, he’s almost sure to win the award. But that’s no guarantee as a 7’5″ big coming off a season derailed by a blood clot. If he doesn’t meet the threshold, this award becomes chaos. And that’s where Draymond Green steps in.
It’s nothing short of criminal that Draymond only has one DPOY in his career. The best defender of a generation, Rudy Gobert managing four DPOYs in his era just feels wrong. There will be media members itching to give it to him. Just look at his third-place finish last season. And the Warriors’ defense is going to be even better this year.
After the Jimmy Butler acquisition, Golden State had the best defensive rating as a team in the entire league. They led the league in turnover rate forced, cleaned up rebounds, and didn’t allow many free throws; all the hallmarks of a great defense. You could argue the shooting luck was against them in that time frame. Now they’ve added Al Horford and re-signed De’Anthony Melton.
The structure is here for a top five, or even top three, defensive team. If they reach those heights, Draymond will get all the credit. And if one Wemby injury opens the door, Draymond Green will crash through that door.
Best 2025-26 NBA ROY Bet
Another award where we have an overwhelming favorite. Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 pick, is a -175 favorite. Tough to find value there. But if Cooper gets knocked out of 20-ish games or falls short of expectations, that opens the door for the rest of the field. And that’s where Kon Knueppel comes in.
Rookie of the Year is typically a counting stats award. If you’re starting from day one, you have a massive edge. If you play a valuable scoring role, that’s another huge edge. Kon Knueppel will check both of those boxes for the Hornets. And there’s a world where he spends a large chunk of the season as their primary scoring option.
LaMelo Ball has played an average of 46.2 games over his five NBA seasons. When on the floor, he dominates the touches, but loves to drive and kick to his shooters. Kon will be one of those shooters. And when LaMelo inevitably misses games, Kon should be first in line to step up.
Kon Knueppel has absolutely passed the eye test so far in preseason. Don’t let the box scores fool you he’s gonna start hitting shots eventually.
Clearly looks like a dude to me early on. pic.twitter.com/AGeOqITDda
— Jim (@Wiz_Weekly) October 13, 2025
They do have other guards. Tre Mann showed some stuff last season before a herniated disc cut his year short. Collin Sexton arrives as a scoring combo guard option. But if LaMelo is out, Knueppel is the clear candidate to start taking on heavy scoring usage, and has shown some great playmaking chops in college. It may not be pretty, but Kon can brute force his way to this award with a cascade of points and assists.
Best 2025-26 NBA MIP Bet
You want to get weird? Let’s get weird. Sometimes the MIP comes out of nowhere, like Dyson Daniels last season. More often, it’s a high draft pick who takes a massive leap forward early in their career. Ron Holland II is primed to do just that.
The Flying Dutchman was an above-average defender in his rookie season as a 19-year-old on a playoff team. But there’s no denying that the offense was rough. Then Summer League happened. In three games, Holland II put up 21.7 PPG on 53% shooting with 6.0 RPG, 2.3 APG, and a whopping 4.0 steals per game. Not only was he a maniac defensively, but he knocked down shots left and right.
There are obstacles in his way. They’ll probably want to start Duncan Robinson or Jaden Ivey to add some extra offensive juice between Cade Cunningham and Ausar Thompson. But if Ron breaks on offense, they’d welcome another dynamite defender into the starting lineup, and he’d have the benefit of playing off of Cade. He’s my favorite long shot on the board, tied for 56th (!!!) amongst NBA players.
Best 2025-26 6MOY Bet
I was shocked, I tell you, SHOCKED, when I saw how the Knicks’ bench players were ordered on this list. Jordan Clarkson, who is just not good anymore, is third in odds. Josh Hart, who was this same player last season, is seventh. Miles McBride, a breakout player waiting to happen, is tied for 21st. And I think he has the clearest case of the three.
Tom Thibodeau was who he was. If everything was going great, he stuck to his principles. If the sky was falling, he stuck to his principles. That included treating Josh Hart like a closing lineup player and first guy off the bench. Mike Brown is not the same kind of guy.
Look at Brown’s last two full seasons as the Kings head coach. Which player led the team in bench minutes in both seasons? Malik Monk. A combo guard who can shoot the cover off the ball when he’s going right. McBride isn’t the same level of driver, but he’s levels ahead defensively. If you need a good look at his defense, I’ve got you covered.
Miles McBride racked up a career-high 29 points against the Warriors on Monday, but that’s not what stood out to me.
He played 46 minutes of hard-nosed defense, taking on a primary ballhandler the entire time. I wanted to highlight what makes him a great defender (🧵) pic.twitter.com/T3S5GzqQ7E
— Bilal Coulibaly’s Goodreads (@klaytheist11) March 20, 2024
Sixth Man of the Year is essentially a points-per-game award. But McBride’s defense leaps off the screen, and he can take a significant step as a scorer under Brown. If he can go from 9.3 PPG to around 15 PPG in an increased role while spending time in the closing five locking up guards, he’s going to get a lot of votes.
Best 2025-26 NBA Team Bets
San Antonio Spurs To Make The Playoffs: No (+125)
Look, I love what the Spurs are building. But this is a brutal Western Conference. Last year was supposed to be a step forward, but they finished with only 34 wins and ended up 13th in the conference. Granted, Victor Wembanyama missed the last 30 games of the season, but things weren’t going well before then.
At the time of his injury, the Spurs were 23-29 and struggling. They went from a fringe play-in contender to a lottery team. Yes, De’Aaron Fox is here, but the rest of the team is very much up in the air. Dylan Harper will need time to adjust after recovering from his injury, and Carter Bryant has to be worked into the rotation. Stephon Castle has potential but is a work in progress. Even if Wemby stays healthy all year, there are growing pains here. There’s no room for growing pains in this stacked Western Conference.
Portland Trail Blazers To Make the Playoffs: Yes (+390)
Now we’re talking. Portland finished with 36 wins last season, finishing three games outside of the play-in tournament. But halfway through the season, that didn’t seem possible. They were 13-28 in the early going, and things looked dire. Then Portland closed on a 23-18 record in the second half. And one thing stood out: defense.
Portland was third in total defensive rating in the second half of the season. Toumani Camara, a 2nd-team All-Defense rep, led the way on the perimeter. Rookie Donovan Clingan dominated the paint. Deni Avdija closed gaps all over the floor, and it gave them a strong foundation. It led to them being 12th in net rating over the second half. Now that defense has improved further with the addition of Jrue Holiday, and saying sayonara to Anfernee Simons and Deandre “Dominayton” Ayton.
Offense is going to be a struggle. They need progress from Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe, passable shooting from Jerami Grant, and contributions from rookie Yang Hansen. But this has the look of a top-five defense in the league, a deep one that will annoy teams and pull out a lot of regular-season wins. If Portland can get above .500, they should be in the play-in. From there, it’s anyone’s game.
Minnesota Timberwolves To Win the Finals +1400
Everyone loves to jump to the shiny new thing. The Rockets added Kevin Durant and jumped to fifth in odds. The Lakers, armed with Luka Doncic, are in sixth. The Orlando Magic are up to ninth in the wake of the Desmond Bane trade. Sometimes we forget what is right in front of our eyes.
The Minnesota Timberwolves didn’t make back-to-back conference finals runs by accident. Anthony Edwards is a bona fide superstar and playoff riser. Rudy Gobert gives them a tremendous defensive floor. Naz Reid and Julius Randle can be matchup nightmares when they’re going right, and they have excellent role players like Jaden McDaniels and Donte DiVincenzo to supplement the main pieces. Navigating the Karl-Anthony Towns trade and not missing a step was extremely impressive.
Of course, the Thunder aren’t going anywhere. The Nuggets made improvements in the offseason. Those two are the clear contenders in the West. But it’s a weak East without a doubt, with the Celtics and Pacers sidelined due to injuries. Odds are, whoever comes out of the West takes home the hardware. I’ll take the chance on the team that has made two straight deep runs over the unknowns.