NBA 2023-24 season outright winner predictions and betting tips: Nuggets can retain title

Best outright bets for the 2023-24 NBA season

Denver Nuggets to win the NBA Championship
3pts 5-1 general

Golden State Warriors to win the NBA Championship
1pt 14-1 Coral, BoyleSports

NBA 2023-24 season predictions

The Denver Nuggets, led by two-time MVP Nikola Jokic, made light work of the Miami Heat in last year's NBA Finals, scoring a 4-1 victory to land win their first championship. 

They look set to face a real challenge to retain their title but, with a relatively unchanged roster and vital winning experience, that is not an impossible task. 

The market has priced Eastern Conference sides Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics as favourites following a blockbuster trade that saw the franchises land all-star guards Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday respectively. 

The scoring prowess of Lillard and elite defence of Holiday will improve their sides over time, but moves of that magnitude can take a while to work out and the settled Nuggets may thrive as the other teams at the top of the market need time to adapt. 

The likeliest contenders to Denver in the West are the Phoenix Suns, who added their own all-star guard in the off-season in the form of former Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal. 

But there are huge question marks over Beal's place in a Suns team that already lacks defensive solidity, given his struggles on that side of the court, while the Nuggets go into the season with a balanced starting five who may be even stronger than last year. 

Small forward Michael Porter Jr and point guard Jamal Murray missed huge chunks of the 2021-22 season before playing large parts in Denver’s success last term, and they go into this season in even better health.

Michael Malone has to roster to land a consecutive NBA title and will get the opportunity to prove it in the season's opening game against the LeBron James-led Los Angeles Lakers tonight. 

The Nuggets are strong favourites to beat the LA outfit, having swept them 4-0 in last term's Western Conference Finals, and should dominate the Lakers again which suggests the second game of the night, Phoenix's trip to the Golden State Warriors, will be a more exciting affair. 

Both sides are at evens to take the victory, which is somewhat surprising given the Warriors' title odds of 14-1 to Phoenix's 6-1.

But the Warriors, with the experience of multiple-championship-winners Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, as well as former Suns guard Chris Paul, could land a win at home and prove that their outright odds are far too big a price. 

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