Featured

Top players to likely win MVP

DeRozan, Antetokounmpo, Jokic, Embiid, Morant, Doncic, you name them and they are probably in the conversation of potential MVP’s. However, who would be the most likely ones to win the Most Valuable Player Award? I got a few personal ones and I have a few unbiased ones.

Per VegasInsider, Joel Embiid (-135) is predicted to win the MVP this year. Coming close in conversations, debates, and even odds last year; Embiid is going to have a better crack at winning the award this year. But, on the flip side of that, Nikola Jokic (+200) is running strong to win MVP.

Then you have guys like Curry, Booker, Tatum, LeBron, and Durant who aren’t even the most likely ones. Are they very appealing to be MVP’s? Most certainly, however that is not turning out to be that way.

So, who are the top players to likely win this year’s MVP Award? That will be answered with tons of different perspectives, my take, and questions like the one I am addressing.

Before I got into the players likely winning it all, would we even care for a Jokic or Antetokounmpo MVP winner again?

Unless you are a Bucks or Nuggets fan, then no. I do not see the appeal to having Giannis win his third MVP or The Joker going back-to-back. They are fine MVP’s, but for Jokic, he is not a player that is exciting enough to go back-to-back and keep the fans attention.

Plus, with Giannis there will be a growing fatigue of all the awards he is winning every single year. The man is a walking accolade that is constantly winning awards, winning big games, and breaking records. People have been very excited about the Greek Freak, but for him to win another MVP would be annoying. Not in a bad way but in a fatiguing way.

The man went back-to-back from 2019 to 2020.

At least with Morant, Curry, DeRozan, Embiid, or any of those other guys mentioned, it will have a different feel to the MVP and it will excite fans more. Universal fans, not just fans of that team.

Top players most likely to win the award:

Per VegasInsider:

Joel Embiid (-135)
Nikola Jokic (+200)
Giannis Antetokounmpo (+800)
Ja Morant (+1200)
DeMar DeRozan (+1800)
Luka Doncic (+2500)
Steph Curry (+3500)
Devin Booker (+4000)

Off of that list, condense it into the top three players to win it

Joel Embiid (-135)
Nikola Jokic (+200)
Giannis Antetokounmpo (+800)

However, I wouldn’t get caught up in the betting numbers, odds, or anything like that. Why? Because it is all subject to change as more people are appealing towards Morant for all the athletically amazing stuff he is performing each game for national, local fans. Same goes for Curry, Booker, and even DeRozan.

So even though that is the top three, that doesn’t mean it is going to stay that way for the remainder of the season. However, if the season were to end today, then, yes, we would be seeing that top three battle it out among the judges.

Who is the most likely player to make these lists and odds interesting?

The number one player to most definitely do that would be Ja Morant, that is the guy everyone is pulling for because of how he has been performing this season, the top-level highlight moves he has been pulling off, and different factors that like.

A secret pick that could be mentioned would be DeMar DeRozan. How so? Mainly from the perspective that no one thought that the trade from San Antonio to Chicago was going to work in the favor of the Bulls. Executives called it the worst trade that offseason, but gears have shifted and now look where DeMar DeRozan is at.

Through injuries, H/S Protocols, and all the different factors Chicago had to battle; guess who remained at the top of his game? Yep, DeRozan. Currently the 32-year-old is averaging (career-high) 28.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game. Also, he is averaging a career-high in three-point percentage for the season. That would be my official dark-horse candidate to win the MVP Award.

Could Luka, Curry, or even Booker came things interesting or become that dark-horse?

As much as I like all three players and their respective careers, I am going to have to pass on that. Why? Because while they are playing very well, no one is taking a look at them because of all the other high-level names. To be honest, I cannot blame anyone.

Booker is not going to get the award due to lack of national media attention and not knowing if he truly deserves the award with all these competitive names on the board. Also, that may be the same for Doncic. Doncic is one of the best players in this league, the greatest Euro player we have seen in a very long time. However, not many national coverage has gone into the game of Doncic and what the man has done for his organization.

And Curry? Not been much of a hot-topic lately, the attention has kind of been on him. But the focus has been on different players – such as, currently, Jokic and Embiid. The two overwhelmingly favorites.

Now, that isn’t to say that these three superstars can’t make it interesting. They for sure could, but the only way people notice what they are doing is by focusing on them too. Which they are in some ways but majority of the time not so much.

Could I predict the list changing before the end of the season?

One-hundred percent as I could see that happening most likely. There is a very probable chance of that occurring as I don’t see Giannis staying in the race for third, I believe he drops down to fourth and Morant (or the dark-horse) moves into third.

The only advantage that Giannis has is the fact that he has more coverage than Morant, plus the fact that Giannis has been more accomplished to him and critics are starting to appeal to him more. So, overall, Giannis could outlast him but I could see a switch.

Same with DeRozan, the dark-horse, as he could dethrone the third spot from Giannis for himself. With the way he has been playing, and winning monthly and weekly awards, he has proven to be a favorable MVP. I would consider him to be the underdog of all MVP candidates this time around.

I also believe number one and two will change, not just on VegasInsider but on all these different sites that promote MVP lists and who is favorable to take home the gold. I believe it will be a constant battle between Jokic and Embiid – such as last year’s competition between the two in MVP conversations.

My personal list of who is the most favorable to win MVP:

I will be giving weekly lists, but this one is my early-early-early final MVP list.

WINNER: Joel Embiid
RUNNER-UP: Nikola Jokic
DeMar DeRozan
Ja Morant
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Devin Booker
Steph Curry
Luka Doncic

Like I said before, this is my very early and premature list of who is taking it home and where everyone is from start to finish. Embiid is the winner and Doncic comes in last for voting. It looks drastically different than VegasInsider’s list. However, I may say this the final list – well at least for this week.

But if everyone continues to play the way they have been playing, then the most likely players to win it would be Embiid, Jokic, and maybe Morant. It just all depends on how teams finish out, how players finish out, and different factors like that.

It also comes down to the review that the voters, critics, and everyone else gives that will determine us a winner.

Take out all the lists and betting odds, who do you have winning this award?

As of today, this week, I am selecting it to either be Embiid or DeRozan. I would slightly give a point or two to Embiid over DeRozan as Embiid has been the favorite to win it since last season. It is just going to be interesting how all of this unfolds.

It is most likely going to come down to Jokic or Embiid, but my gut is telling me something different. I just have this opinionated feeling that it is going to be a battle between the underdog and the favorite. Because even when taking out the odds, the lists, etc we still have to factor the incredible seasons that the main guys have put in.

Note for every Monday starting now

Every Monday, CourtSideHeat will be releasing their MVP rankings on a weekly basis since we are nearing the end of the season and beginning of the regular season. We want to give you guys tons of benefits and the best way to look at these awards, so stay tune for that on CourtSideHeat.com and CourtSideHeat.SubStack.com

Conclusion:

While this may have been short, broad, narrow, or whatever the case may be; we are gearing towards these awards as this is a very rough draft of our MVP winner lists. I would love to say DeRozan, same with Embiid; but who knows at this point. All we do know is that these remaining games will play a significant role into how voters will vote for their MVP winner.

We will continue to post about the awards here so keep coming back to our site or social media as it is going to be jammed-pack with exciting content like this one.

Check out CourtSideHeat’s social media and different platforms:

(Instagram) @courtsideheatnba
(Twitter) @courtsideheat
(Facebook)@courtsideheat
(TikTok) @CourtSideHeat
(Rumble) @CourtSideHeat
(Gettr) @CourtSideHeat
(YouTube) @CourtSideHeat