We got to see Nikola Jokic take home the MVP award just a season ago after a stellar season out on the court. This year, we have no idea which star player will be able to come home with the hardware. However, there are four players that are certainly standing out above the rest of the competition. Let\u2019s take a look at these contenders and see where they stand heading into the final stretch of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nikola Jokic has been tasked with carrying the Denver Nuggets this season. With Jamal Murray still recovering from his ACL injury and Michael Porter missing all but seven games due to a back issue, Jokic has been forced to do it all. The reigning MVP is also one of just two players in the league to be averaging over 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists per game. He is also eighth in scoring at 26.0 points per game, second in rebounding at 13.8 and eighth in assists at 7.9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Philadelphia 76ers big man is creating himself quite the case for the MVP award. Joel Embiid was on track to win it last season before suffering a few injuries down the stretch. He missed some time and ultimately lost the award. This time around, he is coming for the crown. Embiid is averaging 29.6 points, 11.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. He is the highest scorer per game in the league this year as well. On top of that, the 76ers are 35-23 out in the Eastern Conference and they look ready to compete for a title. As it stands, he is looking like the best bet to win MVP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Giannis Antetokounmpo has won multiple MVP awards already but he could be on the way to another one at the end of this season. If we look past the potential for voter fatigue, Antetokounmpo has some of the best numbers in the league. He averages 29.4 points, 11.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists per contest. He also averages 1.0 steals and 1.4 blocks per game as well. The Milwaukee Bucks are 36-24 on the season and Giannis is a huge reason as to why. He is the only other player in the league to average over 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists per game, Jokic is the other we talked about earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Steph Curry may not be dominating on the glass like those other guys are this season, but his impact offensively is second to none. Curry averages 25.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game. He is shooting only 42.7 percent from the floor but a high 37.9 percent from three-point range on 12.3 attempts per game. One of the big reasons he is so high up on the projects is his team success. The Golden State Warriors are 42-17 on the year and fighting for the top spot in the Western Conference. Not to mention that Klay Thompson has only played in 16 games and Draymond Green has only gotten to play 34.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We got to see Nikola Jokic take home the MVP award just a season ago after a stellar season out…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":17677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21530,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21528\/revisions\/21530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}