Article courtesy OddsShark (@OddsShark)
The NBA MVP is widely debated every year as to whether the award is actually given to the best player in the league or the most valuable to his team, with the latter argument winning out much more often than not.
Last season, it was Greek forward Giannis Antetokounmpo who took home MVP honors as arguably the best player on the best team during the 2018-19 NBA regular season, and he is listed as the favorite to win it again in 2020 at +300 (bet $100 to win $300) on the NBA MVP odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
With many of the top teams in the NBA possessing at least two star players right now based on early moves made so far this postseason, Antetokounmpo might be able to make an easier case for himself to win it this year because he clearly shines the brightest for the Milwaukee Bucks as their leading scorer and rebounder.
Antetokounmpo bested James Harden of the Houston Rockets in 2019 voting, and Harden will now be joined by the 2017 NBA MVP in Russell Westbrook after winning the award himself in 2018. Westbrook was dealt from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Rockets for Chris Paul in a blockbuster trade that was finally made official earlier this week.
While Harden (+700) and Westbrook (+2500) are still considered candidates to win their second NBA MVP awards this season at online betting sites, it will likely be difficult for both of them because there is only one basketball to share between them.
Instead, the last back-to-back MVP winner – Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors – seems like a better bet after his team lost Kevin Durant to injury and then to the Brooklyn Nets in a sign-and-trade deal.
Curry is the +500 second choice on those NBA odds to earn the 2020 MVP award, and he will need to do a lot more to help the Warriors win without Durant around. When Curry won the award in 2015 and 2016, it was before Durant arrived from the Thunder as a free agent.
Durant is probably the best player never to have won the NBA MVP award, but he could miss all of next year for the Nets following surgery on a torn Achilles suffered in the NBA Finals.
Another player who is in the conversation as the best player without an NBA MVP award is Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers. The two-time NBA champion just won his second title with the Toronto Raptors before signing with the Clippers as a free agent, and he is the +800 fourth choice this season.
Following Leonard on the betting board are Los Angeles Lakers teammates in LeBron James (+900) and Anthony Davis (+1000), although they too could be hurt by having each other as teammates.
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