NBA Betting Futures for 2024/25 Season | Between 1999 and 2020, the NBA was basically controlled by a group of five teams. Between 1999 and 2007, we either saw Shaquille O’Neal or Tim Duncan in the NBA Finals – that happened eight out of nine times. 2007 and 2020, either Kobe Bryant or LeBron James appeared in the Finals 12 of 13 years – although, to fans’ great disappointment, never against one another.