The parity era in the NBA seems like it could continue. At least, that's what oddsmakers and bettors appear to believe after LeBron James' latest decision to join the Philadelphia 76ers.
New York's championship run last month capped a season that extended an unprecedented run of NBA parity, with eight different franchises winning titles in the last eight seasons — Toronto in 2019, James and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, Milwaukee in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Denver in 2023, Boston in 2024, Oklahoma City in 2025 and now the Knicks.
There's at least a reasonable chance now that the run of new champions will continue in 2027, with reigning Western Conference champion San Antonio, Minnesota, Detroit, Cleveland, Miami — and, of course, Philadelphia now among the teams with the best odds right now of hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy next June.
A look at the teams and their odds, broken down by tiers:
James' decision moved Philadelphia into the upper tier of favorites — but not the highest tier.
Most major sportsbooks and prediction markets are clear: Teams are going to have to get through Oklahoma City and San Antonio to get out of the West. The Thunder, as of Saturday — and a lot will likely change in the next 10 months or so — would still be considered a slight favorite to win the NBA title in 2027, barely ahead of the Spurs.
That shouldn't be a surprise: The Thunder are led by two-time Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and have a proven championship core, while the Spurs have unanimous Defensive Player of the Year Victor Wembanyama as the centerpiece of a young team that took huge strides in 2025-26 and should only get better.
This is the James impact: He's got Philadelphia right there with defending champion New York.
The Knicks and 76ers have the third- and fourth-best championship odds — in some order, depending on the site — according to most books and prediction markets.
The good news for the Knicks: They're right where they were entering last season, not quite the favorites but ahead of just about everybody in the league when it comes to title odds.
The good news for the 76ers: They're going to have their best entering-the-season odds since probably 2019-20.
Some of the Celtics' decisions this summer — particularly the trading of Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia — have faced serious criticism. Bettors don't seem to mind, perhaps mindful of how the Celtics exceeded many expectations last season.
Boston is firmly the No. 5 choice right now according to most books and markets, not quite there with the Thunder, Spurs, Knicks and 76ers, but leading the rest of the pack.
This is where things start to get muddled, and where books and markets tend to vary on that next tier — the teams with the sixth-best through 11th-best odds.
Denver, Toronto, Minnesota, Detroit and Cleveland are all jammed fairly close together. The only real rising team in that mix is Toronto, clearly based on the expectation that the Raptors will eventually close the trade for Kawhi Leonard and bring back the key to their 2019 title run.
The next team in the race for a top-10 preseason odds spot is Miami. Betting opinions seem to vary widely, though the one thing that is consistent is an expectation that the acquisition of Giannis Antetokounmpo to play alongside Bam Adebayo will get the Heat back into the playoffs.
Even though the Lakers lost James, the odds still say that Luka Doncic's team will be playoff-bound next season. And bettors seem to think that 2025 NBA finalist Indiana, which played without Tyrese Haliburton this past season because of injury and plummeted to the bottom of the league, will return to the playoffs this season.
Houston and Golden State round out the top 15 in current odds, suggesting that the belief is those clubs are postseason-bound as well.
Not too far back from there: Atlanta, Orlando and Portland.
Washington will have Trae Young, Anthony Davis and Khris Middleton. Bettors expect the Wizards to be better — but aren't ready to put money on them being a playoff team yet.
The Wizards, with No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa, are in a cluster of teams that odds point to as possible play-in candidates, along with Phoenix, Charlotte, Dallas and Utah.
Value bettors can find some very good odds right now on the clubs that books and markets aren't loving right now.
That group: the Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans, Chicago, Memphis, Milwaukee, Brooklyn and Sacramento.
A reminder — there's always a surprise. Charlotte was toward the bottom of most preseason odds lists this past season and won 44 games. The season before that, Detroit had some of the longest preseason odds in the league and also won 44 games.
Based solely on the average of where the books and markets were on Saturday — and again, none of this will matter when the games start counting in October — the playoff picture in the NBA next spring would look like this:
East playoff teams — New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland, Miami, Indiana.
East play-in teams (but not in playoffs) — Atlanta, Indiana.
West playoff teams — Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Denver, Minnesota, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston, Golden State, Portland.
West play-in teams (but not in playoffs) — Phoenix, Dallas.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
FILE - Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James, left, goes up for a shot past Philadelphia 76ers' Adem Bona during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Jan. 28, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
FILE - Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James, center left, goes up for the shot against Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid, center right, during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Dec. 7, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola, File)
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — In Wisconsin's progressive capital city of Madison, where liberal residents have long embraced their history of political activism and protest, a police shooting this week has disrupted some of the largest and most popular summertime events and once again put the spotlight on persistent and deep racial divisions.
Corey Ruiz, who is identified as Black or Latino in Wisconsin court records, was shot and killed by a Madison police officer on Wednesday after a brief scuffle at the intersection of a city street just yards away from a popular 52-year-old food co-op in the heart of the city's most liberal neighborhood.
It marks the third time since 2012 that Madison police have shot and killed someone in the same neighborhood. The shooting has sparked renewed calls for police reforms and forced the city that is 70% white to once again reckon with calls from the Black community to address racial justice issues.
Pressure from protesters, and sympathy for their cause, has also led to the cancellation or disruption of many of Madison's signature summertime events.
“Our community has spoken loud and clear: this is NOT business as usual,” Black activist Clyde Mayberry posted on Facebook on Friday amid a string of cancellations. “Your decisions have helped ensure that this city continues to acknowledge the pain, the loss, and the call for accountability.”
Protesters took to the streets hours after the shooting, disrupting a popular Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra outdoor concert at the state Capitol that attracts about 30,000 every week in the summer. Protesters, many of whom were Black, stood over white concert attendees sitting at tables near the stage that cost as much as $1,800 to rent for the night.
Concert organizers canceled the event.
Threats of a protest on Thursday led the city to postpone the grand opening of a new public market, just a few blocks away from where the shooting occurred. A popular neighborhood festival near the shooting called AtwoodFest, scheduled to begin on Saturday, was also canceled in the face of potential protests.
“Our community and our Marquette neighbors witnessed another horrific officer-involved shooting just blocks from our festival grounds, leaving us in deep pain and justified anger,” organizers of the festival wrote. “In acknowledgment of what has happened far too often in our community and our country as a whole, this year’s AtwoodFest, themed ‘The Heartbeat of the Neighborhood,’ is canceled.”
And on Saturday, the popular downtown farmers market that attracts about 20,000 people each week around the Capitol building, shut down nearly four hours earlier than usual in solidarity with protesters.
“We mourn with our community,” market organizers posted on social media. “And we agree - business cannot proceed as usual.”
A handful of protesters showed up at the Capitol as vendors were breaking down their booths at around 10 a.m.
“No one should be thinking this is just another Saturday,” said Reba Bergmann, who sat with Lilly Nimmer holding a sign that said “Justice for Corey.”
“It's not life as normal,” Nimmer said. “We should be more mad. We should stand up for what we believe in.”
Charles Alt, 30, supported the decision to close down early.
“It's important to keep focus on the real tragedy, which is that someone got killed," said Alt, who was shopping at the market. "Missing some market time, that's sad, but that's not what's important.”
But Rodney Hathaway, who was visiting Madison from Milwaukee, was caught off guard by the market's early closure.
“It's ridiculous,” he said. “This is peoples' livelihoods. It's just unfortunate. We have such a short summer season for these people to sell their wares.”
Investigations into the shooting continue. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Ruiz family, said on Friday at a new conference in the Capitol that the officer who fired the shots should face criminal charges.
Madison Police Chief John Patterson, who is white, has tried to calm tensions, even allowing protesters to overtake a news conference that he was leading along with the mayor inside the police department's downtown headquarters on Thursday.
Patterson took questions from angry protesters, one of whom held a sign just feet away from the chief that said “corrupt cops deserve to die too.” After one protester hurled an insult at Patterson, the chief calmly responded, “I appreciate you being here.”
Attorney Ben Crump speaks at a news conference about Corey Ruiz, who was killed by Madison police, while his sister, Veronica Ruiz, breaks down in tears and is comforted by Wisconsin state Rep. Shelia Stubbs, D-Madison, right, Friday, July 24, 2026, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)
Shoppers line up at the farmers market outside of the Wisconsin state Capitol on Saturday, July 26, 2026, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)
Lilly Nimmer, left, and Reba Bergmann, right, hold a sign to protest the police shooting of Corey Ruiz outside of the Wisconsin state Capitol during the weekly farmers market on Saturday, July 25, 2026, in Madison, Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)
Mourners gather around a memorial at the site where a man was shot and killed on Wednesday by Madison police, Thursday, July 23, 2026, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Attendees gesture as they gather at a memorial Thursday, July 23, 2026, in Madison, Wis., where a Madison police officer shot and killed Corey Durell Ruiz on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Protesters march Thursday, July 23, 2026, in Madison, Wis., after a Madison police officer shot and killed Corey Durell Ruiz on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Resident react during a press conference regarding the incident where a man was shot and killed on Wednesday by Madison police, Thursday, July 23, 2026, at the police station in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Protesters march after a Madison police officer shot and killed a man Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
