NBA MVP Betting Odds 2023: Will King James Reign Supreme?

Written by:

Sarah Ryan

🗓

Updated: October 4th 2023

Short answer to that headline: probably not.

The longer answer, well, it’s complicated, and unfortunately, we don’t have a magic eight ball or magic Gray’s Sports Almanac from the future to discern the precise answer. The NBA’s most valuable player through the 2022-2023 season likely won’t be declared until after the postseason, between the late Spring or early summer.

Most likely, you shouldn’t expect the NBA season awards to be held until late June of 2023. Unfortunately, we don’t have Biff Tannen’s Back To The Future foresight, nor have we won enough 25-leg parlays to buy ourselves any DeLorean rides into the future. But do you want to know what we do have?

Early betting lines, odds, and values on the current slate of contenders to be deemed the league’s most valuable player, courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook. Whether you’re aiming to start with their Michigan, New York, or New Jersey sportsbook, we’ve also got a generous welcome-bonus to offer you a comfortable first-timer future bet cushion.

So, without any further ado, let’s cover where the best future bets for the NBA MVP Awards stand right now, why LeBron’s odds for this award might be longer than you’d assume, and where all of these odds could stand in the future.

NBA MVP Candidates 2023

Right now, here are FanDuel’s current player future odds on the NBA’s Top Ten 2023 MVP Award picks:

Luka Donic: +270
Giannis Antetokounmpo: +320
Jayson Tatum: +420
Stephen Curry: +1000
Joel Embiid: +1000
Donovan Mitchell: +1600
Ja Morant: +1900
Nikola Jokic: +2700
Kevin Durant: +2700

Even if you’re just a casual NBA fan, you can probably still infer why Giannis and Luka decisively lead this betting line lineup. Both the Milwaukee Bucks frontman and Mavs marksman have started each of their matchups strong, and both have routinely put numbers on the board for both of their respective teams.

How many? So far this season, Doncic has averaged 26.8 points per game, and with the exception of a one-off ladder gaffe (see this ESPN story for a little more elaboration on that), Giannis’ shots have also been consistently on point, averaging 22 points per game this season.

Both superstar scoreboard shooters have contributed significantly toward leading their teams to victory. So far, Milwaukee is currently going strong with an 11-4 record this season, placing them second in the overall Eastern Conference, just behind the Boston Celtics at 13-3. Apart from the Greek Freak, the Don has also done a decent job helping Dallas stay afloat, keeping them in third place in the Western Conference at 9-7 so far this season.

Since Giannis has helped lead the Bucks to a better overall record so far this season, and previously won the award in 2019 and 2020, he might have slightly more value as a potential MVP pick out of the top two. But if you’re looking for two slightly longer shots that have viable value, you don’t have to look any further than Steph Curry on Golden State, or Joel Embiid on the Sixers.

Few point guards in the league have performed comparably to Curry. According to Statmuse, the legendary basket weaver has averaged:

32.3 points made per game
7.1 assists made per game
11.8 three-point attempts per game
5.3 three-pointers made per game
6.7 rebounds made per game

Talk about art and craft. Joel Embiid is expected to be sidelined for a foot injury for at least Philadelphia’s next two games. But when Embiid’s able to get the ball rolling (dribbling?), the team trusts his process to reliably deliver an average:

32.3 points per game
10.1 rebounds per game
4.6 assists per game
4.0 attempted threes per game

Curry might be the slightly safer long-shot play here, as his overall stats are better and he hasn’t suffered any injuries so far this season. Nevertheless, they both offer a decent potential return, as only $10 wagered at +1000 odds would yield a $100 profit.

You might also want to consider smaller sprinkles on Jokic or Durant. Outside the top 10 NBA Award contenders (for now), you can snag Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young for +8500 odds, paying out $170 for $2 if he gets his career-first MVP award. Likewise, it can’t be said that LeBron is a likely 2023 MVP favorite at most Michigan online casinos or sportsbooks, though it can be said that they offer quite the moonshot return at +37000.

A buck on those odds would return $370 in the miraculous off-chance that the legendary Lakers forward brings home his fifth career NBA MVP award. It’s not very likely to hit, as James has been forced to sit out the last four games due to an abductor injury, but if he can turn things around through the latter half of the season, there is a very slim (but non zero) shot that King James could yield a decent upside. It would offer a better upside than watching Space Jam 2 would, that’s for sure.

How NBA MVP is Decided

The NBA Most Valuable Player Award is decided by a panel of veteran media broadcasters and sports journalists, who offer their votes on their favored MVP contenders from first place through fifth place.

This panel is supposed to evaluate overall player performance in the aggregate, and if a player is able to stack up the most points and votes in the aggregate, they’ll be awarded that year’s MVP Award. Unfortunately, we can’t throw in our vote to raise the odds of a 370-to-1 King James payout, but we can still throw you another welcome bonus to ensure that your first bet is a safer, sweat-free bet.