NBA MVP Odds For Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic And More

Most Valuable Player Betting Info

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Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid won his first NBA MVP award on May 2. Embiid had +650 NBA MVP odds prior to the start of the 2022 – 2023 season. Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nuggets star Nikola Jokic were finalists for the top individual award in pro basketball.

Next year NBA MVP odds will soon be available.

NBA MVP odds

Next season NBA MVP odds will soon be available.

NBA Finals MVP odds

Here are the current NBA Finals MVP odds from DraftKings Sportsbook:

Nikola Jokic (-160)

The Nuggets (-210) are now heavily favored to win the title and Jokic continues to put up staggering numbers during another incredible postseason run. He has seven triple-doubles in these playoffs and is averaging 30.4 PPG on 55% FG shooting through 13 games. 

Jimmy Butler (+240)

Butler is averaging 31.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, and 5.5 APG during a historic playoff run, leading the Heat to two series wins without home-court advantage and posting some incredible lines in the process. He nearly carried Miami to a title in 2020 and could be the brightest star in the Finals once again. 

Jamal Murray (+700)

With the Nuggets struggling in Game 2, Murray put his team on his back with 23 points in the fourth quarter to finish with 37 points in another huge outing at home. The electric PG is fully recovered from ACL surgery and ready to dominate alongside Jokic. 

Jayson Tatum (+1600)

Tatum came up clutch in Game 6 and dropped 51 points in Game 7 to dispatch the 76ers, which marks the most points ever in a Game 7. He carried the Celtics to two similar wins over the Bucks in the conference semifinals last year and was given the first Larry Bird trophy as the first ECF Finals MVP before struggling in the NBA Finals against the Warriors. 

Bam Adebayo (+2800)

Adebayo’s impact isn’t always seen in the stat sheet. He’s a perfect complement to Jimmy Butler in pick-and-roll and a versatile defender.

LeBron James (+4500)

LeBron has picked up his output with Anthony Davis showing some inconsistencies in the later rounds of the playoffs. James is dealing with a foot injury and he turned his ankle during a Game 2 loss in Denver. 

Anthony Davis (+5000)

While LeBron won Finals MVP in 2020, Davis might be the most valuable player for the Lakers in this playoff run. His defensive presence has been immense in some deciding games through the first two rounds. 

Jaylen Brown (+6000)

Brown was Boston’s most consistent player in the NBA Finals last June with Tatum struggling against Andrew Wiggins and the Warriors. He’s taken a backseat so far in these playoffs with Tatum and Malcolm Brogdon carrying an increased load on offense.

How NBA MVP odds changed

Below we will examine how NBA MVP odds changed over the course of the season.

PlayerNBA MVP Odds October 18NBA MVP Odds December 1NBA MVP Odds March 30
Luka Doncic+425+270OTB
Giannis Antetokounmpo+600+280+450
Joel Embiid+650+1500+115
Kevin Durant+800+1700OTB
Nikola Jokic+900+2200+115
Stephen Curry+1200+800OTB
Jayson Tatum+1400+250+20000
Ja Morant+1500+2500OTB
Zion Williamson+2200+13000OTB
LeBron James+2500+20000OTB
Devin Booker+3000+2500OTB
Trae Young+3500+10000OTB
Damian Lillard+4500+10000OTB
Jimmy Butler+5000+20000OTB
Karl-Anthony Towns+5000+30000OTB
Anthony Edwards+6000+50000OTB
Anthony Davis+6000+10000OTB
James Harden+7000+20000OTB
Donovan Mitchell+8000+3500OTB
DeMar DeRozan+8000+20000OTB
Paul George+8000+30000OTB
Kyrie Irving+9000+40000OTB

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.

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Where you can bet on the MVP legally

Online sports betting is currently legal at a regulated sportsbook in the following states:

StateLaw Passed?Launch DateMobile Launch
Arizona Sports BettingYesSeptember 2021September 2021
Arkansas Sports BettingYesJuly 2019NA
Colorado Sports BettingYesMay 2020May 2020
Connecticut Sports BettingYes*September 2021October 2021
Delaware Sports BettingYesJune 2018Pending
Florida Sports BettingYes*PendingPending
Illinois Sports BettingYesMarch 2020August 2020
Indiana Sports BettingYesSeptember 2019October 2019
Iowa Sports BettingYesAugust 2019August 2019
Louisiana Sports BettingYesOctober 2021January 2022
Maryland Sports BettingYesPendingPending
Michigan Sports BettingYesMarch 2020January 2021
Mississippi Sports BettingYesAugust 2018September 2021
Montana Sports BettingYesMarch 2020March 2020
Nevada Sports BettingYes19492010
New Hampshire Sports BettingYesAugust 2020December 2019
New Jersey Sports BettingYesJune 2018August 2018
New Mexico Sports BettingNo*October 2018NA
New York Sports BettingYesJuly 2019January 2022
North Carolina Sports BettingYesMarch 2021NA
Ohio Sports BettingYesJanuary 2023January 2023
Oregon Sports BettingNo*August 2019October 2019
Pennsylvania Sports BettingYesNovember 2018May 2019
Rhode Island Sports BettingYesNovember 2018September 2019
South Dakota Sports BettingYesSeptember 2021NA
Tennessee Sports BettingYesNovember 2020November 2020
Virginia Sports BettingYesJanuary 2021January 2021
Washington, D.C. Sports BettingYesMay 2020August 2020
Washington Sports BettingYesSeptember 2021NA
West Virginia Sports BettingYesAugust 2018August 2019
Wyoming Sports BettingYesSeptember 2021September 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.