The NBA regular season is only a quarter of the way through, but it’s never too early to start looking ahead. There is now a decent enough sample size to make some pretty well-informed NBA futures bets, and there’s one in particular that still has really good value on DraftKings Sportsbook.
NBA Central Division 2025/26 Winner
Pick: Detroit Pistons, +165
The best time to hop on Pistons futures was in the preseason. The second-best time to hop on Pistons futures is right now.
Detroit opened the season with a win total of 46.5. The Cleveland Cavaliers, on the other hand, had a preseason win total of 56.5. Fast forward a month and the Pistons are sitting atop the entire Eastern Conference at 14-2, while the Cavaliers are 3.0 games back at 12-6. As for Division Winner odds, Detroit was sitting at +700 on opening night, trailing Cleveland and their league-best -525 odds. DraftKings Sportsbook still has the Cavaliers as the favorites in the Central at -200, but the Pistons have climbed to +165.
It’s hard not to be prisoner of the moment when the Pistons have won 12 straight. And yet, notching at least 11 wins in a row is a pretty good indicator of future success. The only two teams to win at least 11 straight games in 2024-25 were the Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, both of whom won their divisions. The year before, the Boston Celtics had an 11-game winning streak en route to an Atlantic Division title. The Houston Rockets also won 11 in a row that season and only finished third in the Southwest, but their surge came in March. Two of the three teams to win at least 11 straight games in 2022-23 won their division, while all six of the teams to post a winning streak that long between 2018-19 and 2021-22 did so as well.
The last time Detroit led the Eastern Conference through 15 games was in the 2006-07 season. The Pistons won the Central Division that year, even though the Cavaliers wound up beating them in the Eastern Conference Finals that postseason.
Why could Pistons win NBA Central Division
Detroit has also managed to get off to their hot start in spite of some pretty notable injury absences. Jaden Ivey just made his season. Marcus Sasser has been out with a hip impingement. Tobias Harris has missed nine contests, while Caris LeVert has missed five, Ausar Thompson has missed four, Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart have missed three apiece and Jalen Duren has missed two. Daniss Jenkins and Javonte Green have proven themselves to be capable rotational pieces amid the chaos, not to mention Ron Holland taking a leap forward in year two.
Cunningham is once again an All-NBA contender and dark horse MVP candidate, averaging 27.4 points, 9.9 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. Duren is suddenly playing like an All-Star, too, with his 20.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 1.0 block and 1.0 steal per game. Add in Duncan Robinson’s 3-point shooting, Thompson and Holland’s versatility and J.B. Bickerstaff’s system, and you have a team built for all-around success.
As it stands, the Pistons boast the NBA’s second-best defensive rating at 111.0. Only the Thunder and their 104.0 defensive rating is lower. Although Detroit’s 118.0 offensive rating ranks No. 10 across the league, Cleveland’s is 117.5. ESPN’s BPI projects Detroit to go 53.1-28.9. The model has Cleveland at 54.2-27.8.
The Cavaliers won their first head-to-head matchup with the Pistons 116-95, but there is an argument to be made that Cleveland is more focused on playoff success than regular season wins. They won the Central Division by 14 games in 2024-25, only to lose in five games to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Going all-out for the No. 1 seed again may not be in the Cavaliers’ best interest if they want to have fresh legs come April and May, after all.
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