Voter fatigue is a definite worry when betting on Nikola Jokic for MVP as the Nuggets star won in 2021 and 2022. But the Serbian sensation has been just that good again this season to warrant him NBA MVP favorite status. Jokic had +175 NBA MVP odds on January 16, with Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum owning prices to win the award anywhere from +250 to +600.
Check out live MVP odds for those players and more below.
NBA MVP odds
Here are NBA MVP odds for the 2022 – 2023 season. Click to bet now. And compare NBA odds for every game here.
Odds to win NBA MVP
Here are some of the favorites when it comes to odds to win NBA MVP in 2023.
Nikola Jokic
The two-time reigning MVP is having an even better statistical season this year while essentially averaging a triple-double. Jokic owns a league-high 135.6 offensive rating and a 32.2 PER while carrying the Nuggets to the top seed in the Western Conference.
Joel Embiid
While Embiid has missed his share of games, the other top MVP candidates have also dealt with injuries this season. The big man’s MVP odds dropped from +1400 to +230 over the past two weeks after he dropped 47 points, 18 rebounds, and 5 assists in a dominant performance to beat Jokic and the Nuggets.
Luka Doncic
Doncic is now a tick behind Embiid in scoring average (33.4 PPG) and he’s dealing with recurring injuries to his ankle/foot that could hamper his performance. Dallas is in danger of falling into the play-in tournament as Doncic struggles to win with a lackluster supporting cast.
Giannis Antetokounmpo
After missing six games due to knee soreness, Giannis has led the Bucks on a six-game win streak with averages of 40.2 PPG, 14.7 RPG, and 4 APG. Khris Middleton is still on a minutes restriction and Jrue Holiday continues to defer to the Greek Freak.
Jayson Tatum
The Celtics have the top record in basketball and Tatum is having a career year with averages of 31.1 PPG, 8.7 RPG, and 4.4 APG, but he’s just one of several standout performers on arguably the deepest and most talented team in the league.
Ja Morant
The Grizzlies won 11 straight after Christmas and have been reeling since during a 1-7 span. Morant is still averaging 26.9 PPG, 7 RPG, and 10.6 APG in that span to keep his squad competitive.
LeBron James
James carried the Lakers while Anthony Davis (foot) was out and now the duo has a chance to bring their squad into playoff contention with AD back to anchor an improving defense. LeBron is averaging 30.1 PPG, 8.5 RPG, and 7.1 APG while shooting 50.6% from the floor.
Steph Curry
Curry is shooting 50% from the floor and 43% from deep while hitting nearly five triples per game and averaging 29.7 PPG on the season. The Warriors have been surprisingly inconsistent since he returned from a multi-week absence due to a shoulder injury.
Kevin Durant
Durant is on pace for a 50/40/90% shooting season provided he returns from his MCL injury in good form. Kyrie Irving has requested a trade, which would leave KD in position to carry the Nets on his own the rest of the season.
Damian Lillard
Mitchell posted the first 70-plus performance in the NBA since Kobe Bryant and he did with 11 assists while shooting 64.7% from the floor. He’s averaging 28.8 PPG with a 119.9 offensive rating and should carry the young Cavs to a top four seed in the East.
Donovan Mitchell
Mitchell’s MVP odds peaked after he posted the first 70-plus performance in the NBA since Kobe Bryant dropped 81 points in 2006. The Cavs have been hovering around .500 over the past few weeks and Mitchell has been relatively inefficient while missing some games.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
The Thunder is at least a year ahead of schedule in what seemed like it would be a long rebuild, because SGA is playing at an All-NBA level with averages of 30.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 5.6 APG on the season.
How NBA MVP odds are changing
Below we will examine how NBA MVP odds change over the course of the season.
| Player | NBA MVP Odds October 18 | NBA MVP Odds December 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Jayson Tatum | +1400 | +250 |
| Luka Doncic | +425 | +270 |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo | +600 | +280 |
| Stephen Curry | +1200 | +800 |
| Joel Embiid | +650 | +1500 |
| Kevin Durant | +800 | +1700 |
| Nikola Jokic | +900 | +2200 |
| Devin Booker | +3000 | +2500 |
| Ja Morant | +1500 | +2500 |
| Donovan Mitchell | +8000 | +3500 |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | +6000 | |
| Anthony Davis | +6000 | +10000 |
| Trae Young | +3500 | +10000 |
| Damian Lillard | +4500 | +10000 |
| Zion Williamson | +2200 | +13000 |
| Bam Adebayo | +20000 | |
| Pascal Siakam | +20000 | |
| Jimmy Butler | +5000 | +20000 |
| DeMar DeRozan | +8000 | +20000 |
| LeBron James | +2500 | +20000 |
| James Harden | +7000 | +20000 |
| Tyrese Haliburton | +30000 | |
| Paul George | +8000 | +30000 |
| D'Aaron Fox | +30000 | |
| Karl-Anthony Towns | +5000 | +30000 |
| Kyrie Irving | +9000 | +40000 |
| Anthony Edwards | +6000 | +50000 |
Here are what NBA MVP odds looked like on Opening Night of the 2021-22 season at DraftKings Sportsbook.
- Luka Doncic +380
- Kevin Durant +600
- Joel Embiid +800
- Giannis Antetokounmpo +800
- Steph Curry +900
- Damian Lillard +1400
- Nikola Jokic +1500
- LeBron James +1800
- James Harden +2000
- Trae Young +2000
- Devin Booker +2500
- Anthony Davis +2500
- Russell Westbrook +2500
- Paul George +3000
Futures Betting on NBA MVP
The NBA MVP award is usually fairly easy to predict, but with the league currently loaded with super-duper-stars, we saw a relative longshot win in 2021. Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic captured his first league MVP award, as he averaged 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game that season. The Joker had the 12th lowest odds to win the award at FanDuel Sportsbook ahead of the season at +3600.
Jokic wound up going back-to-back, as he won the pro basketball Most Valuable Player award again in 2022. The Serbian sensation had around +1400 NBA MVP odds prior to the start of the 2021-22 season. Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid narrowly missed out on winning the award. Embiid had around +1000 MVP odds prior to the start of the season. Luka Doncic was the consensus favorite to win in the pre-season last year with +400 odds.
NBA Over or Under Win Totals
Betting on the MVP winner is one of the more popular options for outright bets known as “Futures,” which are usually wagers on a season-long outcome such as the NBA champion, NBA division winner, or individual award winners. It’s also possible to bet Over or Under on Team Win totals, i.e. the number of games a team is expected to win during the regular season.
If you’re looking to bet on NBA lines for today go here.
Best NBA MVP betting site
Where you can bet on the MVP legally
Online sports betting is currently legal at a regulated sportsbook in the following states:
| State | Law Passed? | Launch Date | Mobile Launch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona Sports Betting | Yes | September 2021 | September 2021 |
| Arkansas Sports Betting | Yes | July 2019 | NA |
| Colorado Sports Betting | Yes | May 2020 | May 2020 |
| Connecticut Sports Betting | Yes* | September 2021 | October 2021 |
| Delaware Sports Betting | Yes | June 2018 | Pending |
| Florida Sports Betting | Yes* | Pending | Pending |
| Illinois Sports Betting | Yes | March 2020 | August 2020 |
| Indiana Sports Betting | Yes | September 2019 | October 2019 |
| Iowa Sports Betting | Yes | August 2019 | August 2019 |
| Louisiana Sports Betting | Yes | October 2021 | January 2022 |
| Maryland Sports Betting | Yes | Pending | Pending |
| Michigan Sports Betting | Yes | March 2020 | January 2021 |
| Mississippi Sports Betting | Yes | August 2018 | September 2021 |
| Montana Sports Betting | Yes | March 2020 | March 2020 |
| Nevada Sports Betting | Yes | 1949 | 2010 |
| New Hampshire Sports Betting | Yes | August 2020 | December 2019 |
| New Jersey Sports Betting | Yes | June 2018 | August 2018 |
| New Mexico Sports Betting | No* | October 2018 | NA |
| New York Sports Betting | Yes | July 2019 | January 2022 |
| North Carolina Sports Betting | Yes | March 2021 | NA |
| Ohio Sports Betting | Yes | January 2023 | January 2023 |
| Oregon Sports Betting | No* | August 2019 | October 2019 |
| Pennsylvania Sports Betting | Yes | November 2018 | May 2019 |
| Rhode Island Sports Betting | Yes | November 2018 | September 2019 |
| South Dakota Sports Betting | Yes | September 2021 | NA |
| Tennessee Sports Betting | Yes | November 2020 | November 2020 |
| Virginia Sports Betting | Yes | January 2021 | January 2021 |
| Washington, D.C. Sports Betting | Yes | May 2020 | August 2020 |
| Washington Sports Betting | Yes | September 2021 | NA |
| West Virginia Sports Betting | Yes | August 2018 | August 2019 |
| Wyoming Sports Betting | Yes | September 2021 | September 2021 |
Legislation is on the table in a number of states with more states sure to legalize sports betting in the upcoming years.
Residents of Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia have access to online sportsbooks, including the platforms created by industry titans DraftKings and FanDuel. William Hill and other online books also offer great opportunities to bet on NBA games and Futures.
In order to bet on MVP, users can click on the NBA tab and find the tab labeled “Futures” and move to “Player Futures.” Regular Season MVP should be one of the categories along with Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and more postseason awards.
Previous winners and trends
Only three MVP winners in the “modern era” have come from teams that won 50 games or fewer. This past season’s winner, Jokic, was one of them as his team won 48 games. Additionally, since 1985 only three MVPs have come from teams that failed to finish at least second in their conference.
So the starting point for choosing a good bet is finding the best player on a winning team. Denver was not one of the top two teams but Jokic more or less single-handedly willed them to the playoffs. The Nuggets were a top 6 seed in the West as were the Sixers in the East.
Remember that the MVP is a regular season award, so players that historically have come up short in the postseason, like Jokic and Harden will always still have a seat at the MVP table.
That said, because the award is voted upon by sportswriters, a players’ body of work tends to put them over the top. Only four MVP winners were younger than 23 and the last rookie to win the MVP was Wes Unseld back in 1969.
Scoring is Critical to win NBA MVP
Scoring is a key criteria for MVP, as the NBA’s leading scorer has won the award in four of the past five years.
While the Center position is fading in today’s small-ball NBA, that position leads the way in MVP awards with 27, although 22 of those came in the first 28 years of the award.
Over the last 15 years, guards have won the award eight times, signifying how the NBA has transitioned to a faster-paced, higher-scoring game. The past four guards to win (James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Steph Curry, and Derrick Rose) are not particularly renowned defenders. Posting gaudy offensive numbers can be enough to sway voters.
Shooting guards have won the fewest awards (eight) in the history of the MVP and Michael Jordan snagged five of those trophies.
Since the 1975-76 season, only three players have been named MVP in a season where their team failed to win 50 games. That includes Russell Westbrook in 2016-17, but it has become a rarity for a player from a mediocre team to win the award.
The Most Valuable Player (MVP) award is voted upon by a panel of 100 media members who are not affiliated with any NBA franchises. Each member of the panel casts a vote for first to fifth place selections. Each vote counts incrementally towards a players’ total, with first-place votes netting 10 points and fifth-place votes counting for only 1 point.
In the history of NBA MVP voting, only Curry (2015-16) has received every first-place vote from the entire panel to be named MVP unanimously. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the award a record six times and LeBron has won four MVP awards, which makes him the leader among active players.