As League Suspended, Ingram Favored To Win Most Improved Player

The NBA Most Improved Player of the Year race had a lot of great candidates. However, as we now know that we may have seen the last regular season game of the year, we have to go off of the body of work we’ve seen to date. With that in mind, here’s a look at the NBA’s Most Improved Player of the Year race, which Brandon Ingram led before the league was suspended.

BRANDON INGRAM, NEW ORLEANS PELICANS
ODDS: +100

The former Los Angeles Laker has benefited from having a much more prominent role in New Orleans with the Pelicans. Ingram is posting 24 points, six rebounds, and four assists per game for the Pelicans. Ingram is a strong scorer, more than most of the other players on this list, so his candidacy is formidable and compelling. He will very likely finish in the top two but winning the award is not a certainty. The simple reason is that the Pelicans are 3.5 games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. A player on a 10th-best team in an NBA conference won’t be an easy sell as the most improved player in the league. He’s a coin flip and it wouldn’t be surprising if someone else took it.

BAM ADEBAYO, MIAMI HEAT
ODDS: +225

The reason Ingram might not win the award is that Bam Adebayo – averaging roughly 16 points and 11 rebounds – is producing a very strong season for the Miami Heat, which are fourth in the Eastern Conference and have a very legitimate chance of winning a playoff series. The fact that the Heat have overachieved so much this season and are a realistic contender for the Eastern Conference championship makes Adebayo’s season more significant than Ingram’s on several levels. If NBA heads to the playoffs with the current standings and the Pelicans fall short, Adebayo could swoop in and win the award even though his scoring average is eight points lower than Ingram’s.

DEVONTE GRAHAM, CHARLOTTE HORNETS
ODDS: +450

The wing from the Charlotte Hornets was averaging just over 18 points and seven assists per game before the season was suspended, taking the next big step forward in his NBA career. The Hornets are buried in the lottery and aren’t coming especially close to being a playoff team, which limits Graham’s candidacy, but his emergence as a quality scorer has been a very pleasant surprise. Graham was a strong defender and a team leader for the University of Kansas in college, but his offensive game has rounded into form, and it will make Graham a Most Improved Player of the Year finalist.

LUKA DONCIC, DALLAS MAVERICKS
ODDS: +500

This is a tough award to sell as most improved, even though Doncic has in fact improved from his previous season in 2019. Doncic has been injured at times this season, which limits the extent to which his brilliance can be recognized. That is one complication with his candidacy here. The other one is that Doncic was already so promising and talented that a “most improved” designation would seem to ignore how good he already was last season. This award just doesn’t seem to be a natural fit for what Luka is. He needed to do more before the season came to an end.

SHAI GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER, OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
ODDS: +1200

The guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder is averaging 19 points, six rebounds, and three rebounds and has been a key part of a surprisingly good season for OKC, which will get a playoff berth when a lot of people thought the Thunder would be a lottery team. SGA should definitely finish in the top five for this award. He has put in too much good work to be minimized in the larger scheme of things.

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