NBA MVP race after All-Star game: Jokic, Doncic and Giannis
There are less than two months left in the NBA regular season. As teams gear up for their playoff pushes the league’s best players make their MVP case.
The halfway point of the season is well in the rear view and after the All-Star Weekend, we are heading into the final stretch of the regular season. Teams are worried about making their case for the postseason, but the best players in the league are in a neck-and-neck fight for the MVP award.
The NBA’s biggest stars were on display in Salt Lake City over the weekend, and no one shined brighter than Jayson Tatum who broke the record for points in an All-Star Game. He put up 55 points and led Team Giannis to victory over Team LeBron on Sunday night. Did his historic night help his case to win the league’s MVP? Here are MGM Grand’s odds for MVP going into the last month and a half of the season.
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets (+110)
How can the two-time reigning MVP be the penultimate pick in All-Star starters draft? I didn’t understand it, and neither did the Serbian who got out of his seat and forced captain LeBron’s hand into picking him over Lauri Markkanen. He had just four points for Team LeBron in 20 minutes, as he sat back and let the perimeter players run the show. Going into All-Star weekend Jokic was the odds on favorite to win a third straight MVP after leading his team to a franchise record wins this deep in the season, a top spot in the West all while averaging a triple double.
Stats: PTS: 24.7 REB: 11.5 AST: 11.5
Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers (+260)
In Joel Embiid’s mind, he has been the favorite in for the MVP title for the last two years, but on both occasions he lost out to Denver’s Serbian sensation. Embiid was drafted first over all and one of the top scorers for Team LeBron in Sunday night’s All-Star game, dropping 32 points and 7 rebounds while sharing the front court with fellow MVP favorite, Nikola Jokic. Embiid is the second leading scorer in the league, and has his Philadelphia 76ers in 3rd place in the East. He has the team to compete with the first placed Celtics and the second placed Bucks in the East but if Joel finishes behind Tatum and Giannis in the standing, that could cost him another MVP title.
Stats: PTS: 33.1 REB: 10.2 AST: 4.1
Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks (+550)
Luka is used to having the eyes of the world on him. He’s been in the spotlight since getting drafted after winning the Euroleague title with Real Madrid in 2018. He brought his team to the Western Conference Finals last season, and now the Mavs have sky rocketed as one of the favorites to reach the Finals with the addition of Kyrie Irving. The question in Big D now is how do Kyrie and Luka mesh? They have played just two games together and lost both, but you can bet that they will be able to turn things around in the last month and a half before the playoffs. One doubt might revolve around Luka’s scoring average. He is the top scorer in the league at 33.3 points per game, but with Kyrie sharing the same court and the same ball, we could see that drop.
Stats: PTS: 33.3 REB: 8.6 AST: 8.0
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks (+1000)
Giannis has already won two MVP awards, and knows what it’s going to take if he wants to win a third before Nikola Jokic does. Giannis was the leading vote getter out of the Eastern Conference which earned him the right to captain his team in the All-Star Game. He is currently nursing a wrist injury that only allowed him to play the only play on Sunday night, but he will be back promptly and looking have the Bucks jumping the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Standings. They are currently a half game back of Boston and Giannis is third is scoring and second in rebounds per game.
Stats: PTS: 31.8 REB: 12.2 AST: 5.4
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics (+1300)
Jayson Tatum took the All-Star Game over in the second half on route to a record setting 55 point performance. It shouldn’t shock us to see Tatum’s class rise to the top in a game full of the the best basketball players in the world. He has the Celtics coming out of the break with the best record in the league. His stats may not put him in the top five in any of the big categories, but they don’t need to be. He is on the deepest, most complete team in the league and is driving the bus searching for another Eastern Conference title, and beyond.
Stats: PTS: 27.5 REB: 8.6 AST: 8.0