The NBA Finals are just around the corner. This week, the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs will begin their best-of-7 series to determine who will be the new NBA champion.
San Antonio outpaced the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7 on Saturday, setting up what promises to be an intense 2025-26 NBA Finals. It’s Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns versus Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs’ home court advantage.
While both teams have shown a lot of grit for the duration of the 2025-26 NBA Playoffs, we give the edge to the NBA Finals San Antonio Spurs. San Antonio finished nine games ahead of New York during the regular season, despite losing the season series to the Knicks 2-1.
A whopping $240 million has already been absorbed by Kalshi traders who are predicting the eventual NBA champion. The Spurs have close to 2-to-1 odds in the forecasting so far, and can be picked up before the series starts at 64 cents. The underdog Knicks are available for 36 cents, which only becomes a “steal” if New York manages to win one of the first two games at the Frost Bank Center.
If you’re looking for a safe prediction, try the Spurs to win the NBA Finals. Until San Antonio drops a game, the prediction markets are unlikely to move significantly (barring some unforeseen injury).
The two teams head into Wednesday night’s series starter with very different profiles. San Antonio was forced to an all-decisive Game 7 over the weekend in the Western Conference Finals. By contrast, the New York Knicks swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in four games in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Expect a lively San Antonio crowd Wednesday and Friday nights at the Frost Bank Center. This is San Antonio’s first NBA Finals appearance since 2014, when Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and then head coach Gregg Popovich lead the Spurs to a championship over the Miami Heat.
For the Knicks, they are competing in their first NBA Finals since 1999… and ticket prices for Game 3 at Madison Square Garden are literally through the roof. Front row seats behind the Knicks’ bench have already sold for $280,000 while center court front row options are currently listed for over half a million dollars!
If the Knicks can manage a win in one of the first two games against the Spurs, you can expect those prices to continue surging all the way up to Monday evening, June 8th. If not, the premium seats at Madison Square Garden should stabilize.
Not many Kalshi forecasters expected this NBA Finals matchup, but fans are happy with it nonetheless. There has been massive downward pressure on the series lines in favor of the Spurs, with the -1.5 and -2.5 games lines plummeting by eight percentage points ahead of Game 1.
Odds for the “first series road win” have also dropped from fifty percent down to a more reasonable 37% if you choose Game 1. The NBA Finals begin Wednesday night at Frost Bank Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30pm local time, with live coverage provided by ABC.
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