The two open the season in Denver and play two more head-to-head matchups from the same conference. It doesn't hurt Davis' potential claim to dethrone Jokic that he'll have ample opportunity as one of the best defenders in the NBA to limit "The Joker" in head-to-head matchups. That could open up the regular-season MVP by default. While there's an outcome that Jokic returns to a voluminous schedule in a quest to take back his throne, there's also a possibility the favorites to win the West rest him as much - or more - than they did in 2022-23.įrankly, as was the case with James, Jokic has now entered a pantheon where his June performance is likely more important than his December efforts. He's also never dealt with a major injury into his age-28 season, which is quite fortunate. However, in a season where the Nuggets were the top seed, the 69 games that Jokic played in 2022-23 were indeed the fewest of his career. Like James, Jokic's incredible bill of health has allowed him to play at least 70 games in every NBA season except one.
He's become the obstacle that Davis' now-teammate LeBron James was in the early 2000s. According to Basketball Reference's historical model, he was 57.1% likely to win last year's MVP if not for voter fatigue. If you're evaluating a player to win the 2023-24 NBA MVP award, you've got to gauge their chances to personally dethrone Nikola Jokic.Ĭoming off his first NBA Finals MVP with the Denver Nuggets, Jokic is the +430 favorite to win it all for a third time in four years. Is this the year Davis can stay healthy to win it? Why? The Polar Bear in Charge
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Those are 11th-best odds on the board for a player that, if gifted a full season of health, wouldn't shock anyone - from a talent perspective - to win his first league MVP. When it comes to the aforementioned ability, opportunity, and voter approval elements discussed, Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers has all of them, but he sits at +2900 to win the award, per FanDuel Sportsbook's 2023-24 NBA MVP odds. Still, what a legendary prospect it would be to call a true underdog for the award - and I'm going to try. Therefore, we don't really hand out "credit" for picking an MVP in the NBA when everyone is on the same page. Each of the last eight award went to someone with top-10 odds from the preseason. It is difficult to identify the exact winner in the preseason, but almost everyone is picking from the same short list of contenders that genuinely have the ability, opportunity, and - in some cases - requisite voter approval to win the award in a given year. "I called that" isn't a phrase I hear too often when talking about betting the NBA's MVP trophy.
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