The 2024 NBA Finals are now over with the Boston Celtics defeating the Dallas Mavericks and sportsbooks are already looking ahead to next season.
According to DraftKings, the Phoenix Suns have the 12th-best odds at +2200 to win the 2025 NBA Finals heading into the offseason.
The Celtics are the heavy favorites at +280 to repeat, while the Mavericks have the sixth-best odds at +900. Between these two teams are the Denver Nuggets (+700), Oklahoma City Thunder +800), Minnesota Timberwolves (+850) and Milwaukee Bucks (+850).
The Philadelphia 76ers (+1200), New York Knicks (+1400), Golden State Warriors (+1800), Los Angeles Clippers (+1800) and Los Angeles Lakers (+2000) are the other teams ahead of Phoenix.
🚨 2025 NBA FINALS ODDS ARE LIVE 🚨 pic.twitter.com/39IySsuREZ
— DraftKings Sportsbook (@DKSportsbook) June 18, 2024
Starting tomorrow, teams can begin negotiating with their current free agents with the conclusion of the Finals. For the Suns, this most notably includes Royce O’Neale, who is an unrestricted free agent but the Suns own his bird rights, and Bol Bol, also an unrestricted free agent.
The rules of the offseason
Starts on Tuesday June 18 pic.twitter.com/TmSk0LSuvi
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) June 18, 2024
The Suns were swept in the first round by the Timberwolves in disappointing fashion on April 28. Phoenix, who finished 49-33 in the regular season, has already made one big move so far since the sweep: firing first-year coach Frank Vogel and replacing him with Mike Budenholzer.
Phoenix has all of its starting five under contract for next season and currently has the highest projected payroll in the NBA next season at $209 million.
Because of this, the Suns are operating over the second-tax apron, which is estimated to be $190 million, severely limiting the team in terms of moves and trades it can make.
In this threshold, Phoenix is unable to sign free agents outside of the Suns to anything other than veteran minimum contracts. In terms of trades, the Suns will not be able to take in more salary than they send out, include cash in deals, aggregate contracts or use a preexisting trade exception
The Suns will also be picking 22nd overall this summer. On the day of the first round of the draft (June 26), the Suns are able to trade both the No. 22 pick as well as their 2031 first-round pick, but not before then. These are the only first-round picks until 2031 that the Suns have the immediate ability to trade.
Stay tuned for how these odds change over the course of the offseason as the Suns fill out their roster.
