Bettor’s Guide to NBA Betting in 2025

A first-time All-Star in his third season, and an NBA Champion as well, Jalen Williams has a lot to be happy about in the offseason. However, the guard is planning to undergo surgery on his right wrist, which he injured heading into the final stretch of the 2024-25 season. All this time, the Thunder guard was playing through injury after all and is now set to have it fixed.

Williams did not miss a single game in the 2025 Playoffs, playing all 23 postseason games and helping Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren lead the way for a promising championship in the 2025 NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers. The Thunder eventually finished with a wire-to-wire victory in Game 7 to claim their first league title in OKC.

In an end-of-season presser, Thunder GM Sam Presti discussed how the Thunder played through a lot of injuries for most of the season – and yet still managed to win 68 games. He also claimed that Williams was inactive for the final two games of the season after playing 36 minutes in a 125-112 victory over Phoenix on April 9. He opted to rest his wrist, but had to play through pain in the playoffs.

An Injured Williams Performing

Williams kept a brace in his wrist – which also happened to be his shooting hand at times in the playoffs. It was even taped during games, and that may have been one of the reasons why he shot poorly from three at 30% in the postseason – which is 6% off his season percentage.

There were also a lot of times when Williams had a very rough game, especially against the Denver Nuggets. He was criticized well for not being able to show up in multiple closeout games against the Nuggets and the Pacers in both Game Sixes.

“The part that I’m most impressed with is in our modern era, when someone has a poor performance or they’re not playing to their capability in a game and there’s a lot of attention on it, you often see a little birdie make sure that everybody knows that the player is not 100%,” Presti said during his season-ending meeting with reporters. “Never happened with this guy, not one time. He powered through. He showed incredible mental endurance and security in himself.”

If you are not impressed, Williams also powered a massive 40-point burst in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to help the Thunder take a 3-2 series lead. He was even in the conversations for the Finals MVP alongside SGA before Game 7.

Thunder Injuries Addressed

OKC was one of many teams that didn’t play at full strength for the 2024-25 season. Isaiah Hartenstein injured his finger before the campaign while Chet Holmgren was out after just 10 games and missed a huge chunk of the season.

There’s also multiple injuries to SGA and even Williams himself, but the Thunder still found ways to win, which is such an impressive way to talk about a team that eventually ended up winning the championship.

As the 2025-26 looms ahead, the Thunder seek to stay healthy and in shape as they also gear up for their first title defense and prove that their win was not a fluke, but rather a hope that they can start a dynasty of winning and the continuation of the arrival they’ve been looking forward for years.

After yet another exit in the first round in the playoffs, LeBron James opts in with the Los Angeles Lakers with his player option to play one more year with the Purple & Gold as he seeks to come up with another championship run heading into the 2025-26 NBA season. With this decision, James now becomes the first player to play a 23rd season in the history of the league.

James is slated to earn $52.6 million on his final deal with the Los Angeles Lakers and will become a free agent by July 2026 provided that he does not sign any other deals with the Lakers or other teams. On top of that LeBron also returned to on-court workouts this week after taking some time to recover from his sprained knee ligament that he suffered in Game 5 of the First Round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

In that regard, it seems that Los Angeles will be keeping its main star for one more year as they hope to come up with a promising campaign that will have them ready for another competitive run. After all, James is still seeking his first NBA title since winning last 2020, and that would be a legendary finish to his already majestic NBA career.

Was There Any Doubt?

Ahead of the final games of the 2025 NBA Finals, James has released a few videos detailing his future and hinting at one more season to play in the NBA at the very least. LeBron, at the very least, didn’t have any doubts about staying in the league as he still has a very healthy finish compared to most players.

“I have a lot of time to take care of my injury, my knee, the rest of my body and make sure I’m as close to 100% as possible when training camp begins in late September,” James said in that interview.

James is known well for his longevity in the league. He has rarely missed a lot of games in a single season, and is rarely hurt and struck by major injuries that we have seen from the likes of Tyrese Haliburton most recently. So far, it seems that LeBron is keen to return to play one more year for now.

While talks about his retirement are still largely buzzing, this decision by the four-time MVP is certainly going to trim a lot of those discussions moving forward into the offseason.

Big LeBron Run Coming Up

As he is set to return, LeBron will now be playing alongside his co-star Luka Doncic for the first time in a full year. Doncic was traded last February to the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis. While they did made better strides en route to the playoffs, Los Angeles eventually fell to Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round in five games.

Still, the Lakers finished at a satisfactory pace as the third seed in the West. James is also set to turn 41 this December – although it is unlikely to affect his level of play. If you are not impressed, note that James has averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 8.2 assists in the previous campaign – that is way better than many other young players in the league right now. Oh, and he is still slated to add more to his points tally as the NBA’s All-Time scoring leader.

Coming off a disappointing season in which they failed to repeat as champions, the Boston Celtics get to business right away with a flurry of moves that will shake up their roster build. This time, however, it seems that the 2024 champions are gearing up for some changes that would help them long-term.

It was no secret that the previous moves by Boston to acquire Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis not long ago were to build a squad with a win-now goal. However, that success was short-lived and proved to be futile when the two key pieces could not convert for them, and now they have shipped the two players to different teams with the hopes of recovering from salary cap issues, as well as acquiring essential assets.

With Jayson Tatum injured, and Jaylen Brown coming off what has been a disappointing campaign of sorts, it does seem that the Celtics are in dire need of changes in its direction and roster heading into the coming months where drastic changes could spell success or utter disappointment for the team once more.

Moving Away from the Second Apron

While player trades are the main focus, most NBA casuals don’t know what the business end of the NBA impacts for a lot of teams. For starters, the NBA’s second apron stands at a hard salary cap of $207,825,000.

For Boston – which has inked a lot of high-earning players a while ago – this is a tough break that prevents them from coming up with key acquisitions in the offseason.

Had they not made any moves, Boston was on pace to spend at least $500 million in payroll for next season. So in just two days, they shipped off two-time All-Star and two-time champion Jrue Holiday – who was integral in the 2024 championship team. That netted them Anfernee Simons and two second-round picks from the Portland Trail Blazers.

The next day, Porzingis was moved to the Atlanta Hawks, bringing Massachusetts native Georges Niang into the roster along with Terrance Mann – and another flurry of second-round picks was swapped as well.

Was the Trade a Win?

First of all, Simons is entering the final year of the four-year, $100 million deal that he signed with the Blazers in 2022, which means he is still owed $27.7 million next season – $4.7 million less than the $32.4 million Holiday is owed for the 2025-26 campaign. It does save Boston at least $35 million in luxury taxes overall, all while being off the hook for the $72 million Holiday is owed in 2026-27 and 2027-28.

On the other hand, Niang is entering the final stretch of his three-year, $25 million deal. He is just slated to earn $8.2 million in the next campaign, which is a huge win considering that it is $22.5 million less than the $30.7 million expiring deal for Porzingis next season. If you are not convinced, that saves $150 million in additional luxury taxes.

So yes, the trade was a complete win for Boston. Not just because they gained fresh assets on expiring deals, but also because they will save $27.2 million in salary and roughly $180 million in luxury taxes – or more than $200 million. If any, this opens up for a promising stretch on the offseason where Boston may have a chance at signing yet another star to compliment their roster.