Entering February, Giannis Heavily Favored To Winning NBA MVP Award

The NBA MVP race is spectacular because four different players have a legitimate chance of winning it. Right now, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo is in the pole position as he’s again pieced together an MVP-caliber campaign. Can anyone else beat him to the award or will he go back-to-back? Let’s take a look at the updated odds:

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO, MILWAUKEE BUCKS
NBA MVP ODDS: -300

This is the deserved leader at this point. Giannis Antetokounmpo is averaging 30 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists per game. That puts him second in points per game and he leads the league in PER. He is all over the floor and what’s more is that he isn’t killing himself each game for the Bucks. He is averaging 30.7 minutes per game in the process of averaging 30 points per game. That means he is basically scoring one point per minute, which is insane. A 30-point double-double with 13 rebounds is ridiculous. If the Milwaukee Bucks get the best overall record in the NBA at the end of the regular season, it will be very hard to deny that Giannis is the most important player in the league, indeed its most valuable one.

LEBRON JAMES, LOS ANGELES LAKERS
NBA MVP ODDS: +500

The LeBron Show is still dazzling: 25 points, eight rebounds, and 11 assists per game. If the Lakers finish first in the West and the Bucks fall out of the top seed in the East, LeBron would have a very strong argument to make. He is making his Laker teammates better and while he isn’t scoring 30 points, those 11 assists say a lot about how much he is helping his teammates grow and develop.

The challenge is the help from Anthony Davis. While he clearly improves their chances of winning the NBA Championship, he also hurts LeBron’s chances at this award because he’s also a candidate.

JAMES HARDEN, HOUSTON ROCKETS
NBA MVP ODDS: +550

The scoring prowess of Harden is extraordinary. Harden averages 36 points, to go along with six rebounds and seven assists per game. He is a scoring machine who is probably the best drawer of fouls in NBA history. It is hard to remember another player who was so skilled at forcing defenders to bump him when off balance, giving referees the ability to easily call and identify a foul, especially a shooting foul. Harden’s hesitation moves and footwork are extremely hard for opposing defenders to read. He gets to the free throw line regularly and piles up the stats.

The problem for Harden is that the Rockets are only 31-18 and are looking like they’ll finish in the neighborhood of fourth or sixth in the Western Conference. That won’t be good enough to make him MVP.

LUKA DONCIC, DALLAS MAVERICKS
NBA MVP ODDS: +600

The possibility of Luka Doncic registering a triple-double is keeping him in the race as a fourth possibility behind Giannis, Harden and LeBron. Doncic currently averages 29 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists. If he can finish the season averaging at least 10 rebounds and assists, he will get that triple-double average, which will be hard to look past for MVP voters.

The issue is that the Mavs are just sixth in the standings and now Doncic is banged up again. He’s fallen behind a little bit but if he gets back healthy and can push the Mavs into a top-four seed, he’ll have a shot.

ANTHONY DAVIS, LOS ANGELES LAKERS
NBA MVP ODDS: +1200

The big man for the Lakers averages 27 points, nine rebounds, and three assists. Davis is the longshot out of all these because he’s still viewed as the Robin to LeBron’s Batman. He needs LeBron to slow down in addition to Giannis and Harden falling off the pace. LeBron is likely to get more votes among Laker players. Davis is somewhat boxed in here.

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