What if you bet $100 on the Knicks to win the 2026 NBA title?
A $100 bet on the Knicks at its lowest price of 1.95¢ (25 Apr 2026) would have paid $5,128 when the market resolved, a 51x return. A week before the result, at 77.95¢, the same $100 would have paid $128.
Hindsight only. Nobody knew the result at the time, and early prices were often thin. Past results do not predict future ones, and you can lose what you trade.
What $100 on the Knicks would have become
A share costs its price in dollars (40¢ is $0.40) and pays $1 if the outcome wins, so a $100 bet at 40¢ buys 250 shares and returns $250. Here is that sum at the key moments of the market.
Opening price
25 Jun 2025 · price 11.5¢
$100 would have paid $870
8.7x return
Lowest price
25 Apr 2026 · price 1.95¢
$100 would have paid $5,128
51x return
30 days before the result
15 May 2026 · price 14.15¢
$100 would have paid $707
7.1x return
7 days before the result
6 Jun 2026 · price 77.95¢
$100 would have paid $128
1.3x return
1 day before the result
13 Jun 2026 · price 80.85¢
$100 would have paid $124
1.2x return
Try your own stake and entry day
Change the amount, then drag across the chart or use the slider to pick the day you would have bought. The line is the price of a the Knicks share over the life of the market.
Entry point
Entry on 25 Apr 2026 at 1.95¢ · decimal odds 51.28
- Shares bought
- 5,128
- Payout if the Knicks won
- $5,128
- Profit
- +$5,028
- Return
- 51x
This market has resolved, so it cannot be traded now. On live markets Polymarket charges takers a fee on most trades, which would shave a little off these figures; see our guide to Polymarket fees.
What happened and why the odds moved
Polymarket's 2026 NBA Champion market opened in June 2025, right after the previous Finals ended, and ran until the 2026 Finals. It resolved to the team that won the NBA championship.
The New York Knicks finished 53–29 as the Eastern Conference's third seed. Their first-round series against the sixth-seeded Atlanta Hawks was in real doubt: the Hawks won Game 3 on April 23, 2026 by a single point to lead the series 2–1. The Knicks won the next three games to take the series 4–2, then swept the Philadelphia 76ers and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In the NBA Finals New York beat the San Antonio Spurs 4–1, clinching on June 13, 2026 with a 94–90 road win in Game 5. Jalen Brunson was named Finals MVP. It was the Knicks' first championship since 1973. The timeline below marks the Game 3 loss and the clincher with the price the day before and the day after.
Timeline with the the Knicks price
Price of a the Knicks share the day before each date and the day after it.
First round, Game 3: Hawks beat the Knicks by one point to lead 2–1
the Knicks price: 2.95¢ then 2¢
NBA Finals, Game 5: Knicks win 94–90 in San Antonio to take the series 4–1
the Knicks price: 81.25¢ then 81.35¢
Sources for the events above: 2026 NBA playoffs (Wikipedia); 2026 NBA Finals (Wikipedia).
The other side: $100 on the Spurs
$0
The Spurs peaked at 64.75¢ on 3 Jun 2026. At that price $100 buys 154 shares, which would have felt like a strong bet at the time. The Spurs did not win, so every one of those shares resolved to $0.
Every market has losers, and only one outcome pays. The calculator above shows the best case in hindsight; picking an outcome before the result is known can go the other way.
Markets like this are open now
This one is settled, but Polymarket lists new questions on the same kind of event all the time. These pages follow them live:
- all live Polymarket odds · Elections, sports, crypto and culture, updated every few minutes.
- Super Bowl odds · Every team's chance of winning the next Super Bowl.
We suggest $20 as a sensible first deposit. New to Polymarket? Our first-trade guide walks through it.
Common questions
Answers use this market’s price history. See how Polymarket odds work if the prices are new to you.
- How much would $100 on the Knicks have made on Polymarket?
- At its lowest price of 1.95¢ (25 Apr 2026), $100 buys 5,128 shares. Each winning share paid $1, so the bet would have returned $5,128, a profit of $5,028. One week before the result (77.95¢) the same $100 would have returned $128. These are hindsight figures before fees.
- What were the odds on the Knicks a week before the result?
- Seven days before the last price in our data, the Knicks traded at 77.95¢ on 6 Jun 2026, an implied chance of 78%. That is decimal odds of 1.28 (American −354). One day before the result the price was 80.85¢.
- What would $100 on the Spurs have been worth?
- Nothing. The Spurs peaked at 64.75¢ on 3 Jun 2026, a price at which $100 buys 154 shares, but the Spurs did not win and those shares resolved to $0. A winning share pays $1 and a losing share pays nothing.
- Can I still bet on this market?
- No. This market has already resolved (our price history ends on 14 Jun 2026), so its shares can no longer be traded. Polymarket lists new markets on similar questions, such as the all live Polymarket odds on this site. Taker fees on current markets (see our Polymarket fees guide) would take a small slice of any return, and past results do not predict future ones.
How we calculate this
Data. Prices come from Polymarket’s public price-history endpoint (documentation), one sample every 12 hours for the winning outcome of “2026 NBA Champion”, from 24 Jun 2025 to 14 Jun 2026. The price of a share is also the market’s implied probability.
Formula. Shares = amount ÷ price. Payout = shares × $1, because a winning share pays $1. Profit = payout − amount. The return is $1 ÷ price. Decimal odds are the same number.
Key moments. The opening price is the sample about a day after the first one, because the first samples are often a placeholder. The lowest price is the lowest sample since then. The 30-, 7- and 1-day prices are the last sample at or before that many days ahead of the final sample, which is when the result was known or, for single-game finals, the last price before the deciding game began.
Limits. Samples every 12 hours can miss a brief low or high. A price is a quote, not a guaranteed fill: real orders pay the spread, can move the price in thin markets, and early prices in a new market are often thin. Fees are not included. The figures describe the past and are not advice.
Updated . Original market: 2026 NBA Champion on Polymarket (affiliate link).
More hindsight bets
Thunder, NBA champion 2025
The season's best team, a Game 7 and an injury that decided the final night.
$100 at 11.5¢ (26 Sep 2024) paid
$870
8.7x return
Seahawks, Super Bowl 2026
A team priced around 1% in the off-season became the NFC's top seed and a Super Bowl champion.
$100 at 0.8¢ (3 May 2025) paid
$12,500
125x return
Spain, 2026 World Cup
A year-long market on the first 48-team World Cup, decided by a 1–0 final after extra time.
$100 at 10.05¢ (2 Jul 2026) paid
$995
10x return
See all of them in the Polymarket what-if calculator, check the biggest Polymarket wins of all time, or follow the latest whale trades.