Sportsbooks are already turning the page to the 2022 – 2023 season, at least in select awards futures categories, as many legal online books have posted NBA MVP odds. Joel Embiid, Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the favorites at most books, checking in around +600 to +700. View and bet on NBA MVP odds below.
NBA MVP odds
Here are NBA MVP odds for next season. Click to bet now.
Luka Doncic (+550): After dealing with an ankle injury and a bout with COVID, Doncic looked like the MVP while averaging 31 PPG, 9.6 RPG, and 8.6 APG over the final three months of the season. He seemed to benefit from the departure of Kristaps Porzingis and he’ll have a much more logical pick-and-roll partner next season in Christian Wood.
Joel Embiid (+550): Embiid averaged 30.6 PPG to win a scoring title and he dominated the action by leading the league in FTA last season as well. Yet he didn’t have the same impact as Jokic, Doncic, or even Giannis, in terms of his facilitation.
Nikola Jokic (+800): Jokic finished in the top 10 in scoring, rebounds, and assists per game and set a new NBA record with a 32.9 Player Efficiency Rating, forcing voters to give him the award for a second straight season.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (+850): Giannis actually averaged more PPG (29.9), APG (5.8), and FTA (11.4) last season than he did during his second MVP campaign in 2019-20. He looked like the most dominant player in the game during the playoffs and he should vie for another MVP next year.
Kevin Durant (+1200): Getting swept by the Celtics in somewhat ugly fashion has changed the narrative around Durant, who was widely recognized as the first or second player in basketball prior to the playoffs. He should use those doubts as fuel to have another monster season.
Ja Morant (+1000): Instead of gaining serious MVP consideration, Morant won Most Improved Player last season. He was the youngest player to receive votes for MVP (finishing sixth in the voting) and his career trajectory is on a skyward trend.
Jayson Tatum (+1200): Tatum led the NBA in missed field goals during the regular season and had a rough run in the NBA Finals while becoming the first player to top 100 turnovers in a single playoffs. The Celtics are a dangerous team and Tatum is their leader, but he’s not necessarily going to stand out on a nightly basis.
Steph Curry (+1700): Coming off his fourth title in eight years and first Finals MVP, Curry should continue to hand out lessons to younger guards during his age 34 season.
Devin Booker (+2200): Booker is well ahead of teammate Chris Paul (+9000) in the early MVP market. The 25-year-old SG received 216 total votes for MVP last season with one second-place vote and eight third-place votes.
LeBron James (+2200): The Lakers were a disaster last year, but it’s hard to pin much on LeBron, who posted his typically gaudy numbers (30.3 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 6.2 APG) on his highest usage rate since the 2007-08 season.
Trae Young (+3000): Young tallied the most assists and most turnovers in the league last year while finishing tied with Doncic for third in scoring (28.4 PPG). He carries Atlanta’s offense, but will likely remain a liability on the other end.
Kawhi Leonard (+4000): While there is no questioning his talent, Leonard is highly unlikely to play much more than 60 games as he comes off an ACL tear. The two-time Finals MVP knows how to pace himself, as he’s been cautious with injuries throughout his career.
Karl-Anthony Towns (+4500): The Wolves showcased stretches of dominant play last year with Towns leading the way on both ends. He lacked aggression during their first-round series against Memphis and teammate Anthony Edwards (+6000) looked like the Wolves’ offensive leader at times.
Jimmy Butler (+5000): Like Kawhi, Butler is a veteran who will pace himself throughout the regular season before hitting another level in the playoffs. However, Miami is a regular season powerhouse that could clinch the top seed in the East once again.
Anthony Davis (+6000): Davis has played in 76 games over the past two seasons following the Lakers title run in the Bubble. When healthy, he’s still one of the best two-way players in the game.
Zion Williamson (+6000): Zion is expected to sign a max rookie extension this offseason and then he should unleash his talents on the NBA after taking a year off following foot surgery.
Damian Lillard (+7000): The Blazers are rebuilding and Lillard will get all the shots he wants with C.J. McCollum traded to New Orleans.
LaMelo Ball (+7500): The Hornets are an exciting offensive team and Ball is their engine. Yet he would need to become a far more complete player to win MVP.
Donovan Mitchell (+8000): Whether he starts the season with Utah or with another team, Mitchell will be getting buckets at a relentless pace.
DeMar DeRozan (+9000): In his first year with the Bulls, DeRozan carried the squad through some tough times while the rest of their roster was sacked by injuries. He was in the top five MVP conversation before Chicago fell apart down the stretch.
Paul George (+9000): If Kawhi rests a lot next season and George plays 70-80 games to help the Clippers clinch a top seed in the West, voters could look at the elite two-way wing as a great MVP candidate.
Odds to win NBA MVP: How prices changed
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
Here are what NBA MVP odds looked like on March 18. Nikola Jokic’s late-season surge propelled him past Embiid in the eyes of voters as the Sixers chose to rest their big man in select games late in the year.
- Joel Embiid -140
- Nikola Jokic +130
- Giannis Antetokounmpo +1000
- Ja Morant +4000
- Luka Doncic +5000
- DeMar DeRozan +10000
- Steph Curry +12500
- Devin Booker +12500
- Kevin Durant +15000
- LeBron James +50000
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.
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 |
| 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 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.