Stephen Curry the heavy favorite for MVP
The NBA MVP race has been one of the most intriguing in years. LeBron James and Kevin Durant have dominated the MVP conversation the past few years, but with Durant hurt most of this year and James getting off to a slow start, a bevy of other candidates have stepped up to make this a wide open race.
However, Vegas doesn’t really see this as a wide open race. Stephen Curry is the heavy favorite with 1/4 odds to win the award, and there’s little doubt that he’d be a worthy candidate. Curry has been the best player on the league’s most dominant team, as his Golden State Warriors have won 61 games and have only lost two home games this season.
Curry is averaging 23.7 points, 7.8 assists and 4.2 rebounds on the year, and he’s only getting stronger as the year has gone on, just in time for the postseason. Curry leads the NBA in raw plus/minus, and he’s near the top in numerous other advanced stats. Giving the MVP to the best player on the best team may be somewhat cliche, but it would be totally deserving in this case.
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James Harden follows Curry with 3/1 odds, and personally, I like Harden for MVP. Not only is Harden putting up 27.2 points, 7.0 assists and 5.7 rebounds, but he has led the Houston Rockets to a superb record in the stacked Western Conference despite a litany of injuries. Both Dwight Howard and Terrence Jones have missed a significant amount of time. Patrick Beverley is now out for the season. Several other key players have missed time as well, but it hasn’t really mattered, because Harden has been a beast.
Speaking of beast, we have Durant’s teammate, Russell Westbrook. Westbrook has put the Oklahoma City Thunder on his back with Durant and others sidelined due to injury, and the electric point guard has 5/1 odds to win MVP. Westbrook is the NBA’s leading scorer at 27.6 points per game, and he’s also averaging 8.6 assists and 7.2 rebounds. He has been even better over the last two months, nearly averaging a triple-double.
Finally, we have James, who has 25/1 odds to win MVP. The King and his Cleveland Cavaliers got off to that aforementioned slow start this season, but they’ve been killing almost everybody over the last few months. A couple key trades helped matters, but getting James healthy after he sat with some nagging injuries meant all the difference in the world. James is averaging 25.7 points, 7.3 assists and 5.9 rebounds on the year, and while he’s having a “down” season, he’s still incredible.
Anthony Davis and Chris Paul are two other players who should be in the MVP conversation, but they’re on the outside looking in. When it comes down to it, it’ll probably be between Curry and Harden, and both are well deserving.
