Overview
The Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award recognizes the most outstanding performance on the biggest stage in basketball. Usually, the best player on the winning team earns the award. In fact, only one player has won the Finals MVP while on the losing team. Jerry West, The Logo, won the award in 1969 when the Los Angeles Lakers lost in seven games against the Boston Celtics. That was the first year of the Finals MVP, and West remains the only player to win the award while on the losing team. Always select a player from the winning team in your NBA picks.
For the 2023 NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum, the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic, the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid and the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James are the favorites to win the MVP Award.
Tatum and Jokic lead the way by a noticeable margin in NBA predictions. The Celtics and Nuggets are the favorites to win the championship, and each player is the best piece on their respective team. However, Tatum struggled in the 2022 NBA Finals at 21.5 points per game while shooting only 36.7% from the floor. Jaylen Brown was Boston’s best player in last year’s Finals. This could be a sleeper for your NBA bet slip if the Celtics win the Eastern Conference.
Jokic certainly has the chops to win Finals MVP. The Nuggets look like the best team in basketball. Jokic has dominated and won regular-season MVP in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Embiid is the reigning regular-season MVP after averaging 33.1 points and 10.2 rebounds. However, he is battling a knee injury and has not reached 30 points in the postseason following Game 2 against the Celtics.
You can’t miss Curry and James on the list. Both are familiar faces on the biggest stage. Curry won his first Finals MVP last season, and James has won it four times. The two are duking it out in the second round. Whoever advances will be a favorite among NBA picks for Finals MVP.
Anthony Davis is another name to watch. He has been the best defensive player in the postseason and has had his way against the Warriors in the second round. Davis has been the Lakers’ best player in the playoffs. There’s a sound argument that Davis was the best player in Los Angeles’ 2020 NBA Finals win as well. With James dealing with a lingering foot injury, Davis could become one of the favorites for the Finals MVP.
Most NBA predictions will side with Tatum and Jokic for the 2023 NBA Finals MVP. However, there are great dark-horse candidates, mainly Brown and Davis.
The NBA Finals is the championship game for the NBA. Every NBA team fights their way to make this championship game.
However, only two teams will face each other for the NBA Finals championship trophy. The race to the NBA Finals starts with the NBA playoffs.
While the teams play a best out of seven series, players also have a chance of earning the game’s highest honor, the NBA Finals MVP. While any player from both teams could win this trophy, only one player will be given the honor of NBA Finals MVP.
The honor goes to the player who plays the best and helps their team the most on their way to winning the NBA Finals championship.
This means the NBA Finals MVP will come from the team that wins the NBA Finals. However, the first NBA Finals MVP award went to Jerry West in 1969, the only player to receive NBA Finals MVP while being on the losing team.
Since then, the award always goes to the winning team’s player in the NBA Finals.
The NBA Finals will have at least four games and up to seven games for players to get their shot at winning the MVP title. Teams with the best record enjoy a home-court advantage, meaning they have four out of seven games played at home.
The NBA Finals format follows a 2-2-1-1-1 format, with the first two, middle, and last games being at the home court of the team with the best record.
What are NBA Finals MVP Lines?
NBA Finals MVP lines are odds assigned to each player that gamblers can choose to wager money on. All players are from playoff teams in the NBA playoffs. Lines and odds will be different based on each player’s chances of winning the NBA Finals MVP.
How NBA Finals MVP Odds Work
NBA Finals MVP odds are all moneyline odds. This means when you place a wager on a player, you are looking for that player to win outright. There are no over/under or spread lines with the NBA Finals MVP candidates.
The odds number for each player is based on their chance of winning the Finals MVP title. So the player with the worst odds would be the most likely player to win the NBA Finals MVP title. However, while that player might be the favorite, other players still could win the title as well.
BetUS Offers
BetUS offers all the NBA players on playoff teams for gamblers to wager their money on in the NBA Finals MVP race. They also offer a one-time deposit bonus for new customers and a one-time re-up bonus for current customers who use cryptocurrency to deposit into their accounts.
Besides those things, BetUS offers some of the best odds on the NBA Finals MVP.
For gamblers looking to use cryptocurrencies to wager money on series prices, there are four cryptos you can use. BetUS accepts these four cryptocurrencies for deposit: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin. So whether you want to use cryptocurrency or cash, BetUS has you covered.
Prop Bets
During the NBA Finals, gamblers can find NBA prop bets. Options range from an over/under on the points a player scores to which player scores first.
These wagering options add excitement to the NBA Finals, as you can root for the players and not just a team.
Adding a prop bet to an NBA Finals MVP wager gives you a chance to pair an MVP candidate with a prop. It could also give gamblers an added value if they really feel their player will be the NBA Finals MVP.