The question is simple BetUS basketball sportsbook betting faithful.
Will Los Angeles Lakers superstar forward LeBron James claim his fifth league MVP award this season?
Ironically, I believe the answer to that question is just as simple. First though, let’s take a look at what the current online betting odds to win the 2020-21 NBA MVP award look like.
Current Odds to Win 2020-21 NBA MVP Award
LeBron James +350
Joel Embiid +450
Nikola Jokic +500
Kevin Durant +600
Luka Doncic +900
Giannis Antetokounmpo +1200
Stephen Curry +1400
Kawhi Leonard +3300
Anthony Davis +6000
Paul George +8000
Analysis: LeBron James won MVP awards in 2009, ’10, ’12, and ’13. James won his first two league MVP awards without his Cleveland Cavaliers teams those seasons winning the NBA Championship. James claimed his last two MVP awards while leading the Miami Heat to consecutive titles in his second and third seasons with the franchise. In 2009, James averaged 28.4 points, 7.2 assists, and 7.6 rebounds per game. A year later, James put up 29.7 points, 8.6 assists, and 7.3 boards per game.
During the 2011-12 season, James averaged 27.1 points, 6.2 assists and 7.9 rebounds per game to win his third MVP and a year later, James put up 26.8 points, 7.3 assists and 8.0 rebounds per game.
While James has failed to win another MVP in six seasons since he’s the current prohibitive favorite to win this year’s award after starting off the season tied with Joel Embiid and Steph Curry as the fifth overall favorite. Right now, almost two full months into the shortened 2020-21 campaign, James is the front-runner, and for good reason.
While James ranks what looks like a modest 14th in scoring (25.6 ppg), keep in mind, he’s playing a career-low 34.5 minutes per game. James ranks sixth in assists per game (8.0) and 24th in rebounds per game (8.0).
Here is a look at the NBA Conference Championship Odds.
More importantly, James finished a distant second to now, two-time reigning league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, despite leading the Lakers to last season’s NBA Championship. James got a paltry 16 first-place votes to the Antetokounmpo’s whopping 85 first-place votes to finish with 753 points compared to Antetokounmpo’s final tally of 962 points.
Last season, James averaged 25.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, and a career-high 10.2 assists per game while helping all-star teammate Anthony Davis become the focal point of LA’s offense.
Now, coming into this season, the general feeling is that James almost ‘deserves’ this season’s MVP award after his heroic effort in 2019-20. At the time of this writing, the Lakers have the second-best record in the league (19-6) while showing no signs that they won’t repeat.
Despite being 36 years old, James is putting up monster numbers after having just 71 days off between the close of last season and the start of the 2020-21 campaign.
His advancing age, combined with the Lakers’ success – and his failure to win an MVP award in the last six seasons, leads me to believe that LeBron James is a virtual lock to win the 2020-21 NBA MVP award.
James Harden won’t win another no matter how many points he scores for the Brooklyn Nets. The additions of Harden and Kyrie Irving could keep Kevin Durant from putting up the jaw-dropping numbers we know he’s capable of, so I’m ruling him out.
For me, James’ two biggest challengers this season look like Philly’s Joel Embiid and Golden State’s Steph Curry. Embiid will have a chance if the 76ers keep winning. Curry should have a legitimate shot, but I think the two-time winner won’t bag it this season with the Warriors now being a modest playoff hopeful as opposed to being an elite title contender.
Giannis Antetokounmpo won’t get any real consideration until he turns his Milwaukee Bucks into a legitimate championship contender and I can’t see Luka Doncic or Nikola Jokic winning it since neither of their teams can get past James and the Lakers.
Will LeBron James win his fifth MVP award this season?
You can bet your grandma’s sweet potatoes he will!
Let’s take a look at the odds to win the 2021 NBA Championship.
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