🏀 NBA Finals MVP Odds 2026: 3 Ways to Bet the Thunder’s Star Roster

With the NBA playoffs underway, the Oklahoma City Thunder are the team to beat as they look to become the first back-to-back NBA champions in nearly a decade.

As the overwhelming favorites by the NBA championship odds, OKC's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is already a minus-money NBA Finals MVP odds favorite after taking home the award last season. 

But SGA isn't the only Thunder player you should consider betting if you're backing Oklahoma City to repeat.

⛈️ NBA Finals MVP odds: The Thunder power rankings

Check out the latest NBA Finals MVP odds.

🥇 The chalk: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (-155)

• Regular season stats: 31.1 PPG, 6.6 APG, 4.3 RPG
• Playoff stats: 30.6 PPG, 7.6 APG, 3.4 RPG

Coming off both the NBA MVP and NBA Finals MVP last year, and expected to win NBA MVP again this year, SGA is already priced at minus-money at our best sports betting sites to repeat as NBA Finals MVP.

Winning NBA Finals MVP for the second straight season would put him in rare air with the likes of Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O'Neal as just the fifth player to pull off the feat this century.

And while this -155 price might be hard to stomach with the NBA playoffs only in the conference semifinals right now, the Thunder are winning playoff games by an average margin of 17.4 points with SGA as the star of the show.

The man just led the regular season in win shares (15.2) and points per 36 minutes (33.7), so it's hard to imagine him taking a back seat in the NBA Finals to any of his teammates. 

📈 The value play: Chet Holmgren (+10000)

• Regular season stats: 17.1 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 1.9 BPG
• Playoff stats: 18.6 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 2.2 BPG

If there's one Thunder player who has a slim chance of outshining SGA in an OKC NBA Finals win, it's Chet Holmgren. He can do what Jaylen Brown did for the Boston Celtics two years ago and be the more important player than the face of the franchise (Jayson Tatum).

Holmgren is coming off a career season in which he earned his first NBA All-Star nod and was second in the league in defensive win shares (4.7), defensive rating (104.2), and blocks per game (1.9), trailing only the NBA Defensive Player of the Year (Victor Wembanyama).

In the playoffs, he's been a shot-blocking machine while shooting 59.1% from the floor and 38.9% from behind the arc. If the Thunder were to play the New York Knicks or Detroit Pistons, both of whom have All-Star bigs, Holmgren's rim protection could be the X-factor in winning the series.

The main reason I love backing Holmgren, alongside SGA, is because of this price. Holmgren is the second-best player on the overwhelming favorite to win the NBA championship, but our best NBA betting sites have him priced behind nine other players ... including an injured teammate (Jalen Williams).

🚀 The long-shot flyer: Ajay Mitchell (+20000)

• Regular season stats: 13.6 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 3.6 APG
• Playoff stats: 15.6 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 3.8 APG

With Williams out due to a hamstring injury, Ajay Mitchell has taken on a larger role for the Thunder and he's thrived in it. The former second-round pick is the Thunder's fourth-leading scorer in the playoffs and shooting 45% from deep.

He's been at his best as of late, too, closing out the sweep of the Phoenix Suns with a 22-point performance before dropping 18 against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1. 

With Mitchell playing the third-most minutes per game on the team (29 MPG) in the playoffs thus far, he shouldn't be priced longer than players like Jared McCain and the injured OG Anunoby.

Williams hasn't played since April 22 and remains on the mend with OKC seemingly in no rush to get him back on the court as they blow out playoff opponents. And with the way Mitchell is playing, it could mean he'll continue to have a large role in the playoffs, even when Williams is back.

🎟️ How to split your Thunder MVP tickets

Obviously, this only makes sense if, like me, you're backing the Thunder to win their second straight NBA championship. But if you are, I like taking the approach of putting two full units on SGA to win NBA Finals MVP while sprinkling 0.2 units on Holmgren as a smart value play and then just 0.05 units on Mitchell as a complete long shot. 

This way, as long as one of them takes home NBA Finals MVP, I'm up.