The NBA All-Star game is right around the corner. That mid-season break is always a good time to revisit futures bets you might’ve made before the season began. The MVP winner is one of those prized futures, and it’s worth a second look. Read this to get our updated pick to win NBA MVP in 2023.
Before we give out our free pick, we do need to evaluate the betting choices. The top-used basketball betting sites have currently pegged the following players as the favorites to win the award:
| Player |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nikola Jokic | -105 | -105 | -105 |
| Luka Doncic | +400 | +400 | +400 |
| Jayson Tatum | +700 | +700 | +700 |
| Joel Embiid | +800 | +800 | +800 |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo | +1200 | +1200 | +1200 |
Best Bets To Win 2023 NBA MVP
We’re going to give you three players to bet on to win the NBA MVP award. We’re going to list them in order from our highest-conviction pick to least. You could either bet on our most confident pick (which we’ll list first) or take wagers on multiple of them — it all depends on your wallet size and risk tolerance. With that said, here’s our MVP betting hierarchy:
Luka Doncic
Doncic has been on the MVP radar for multiple seasons in a row now, but this might just be the year he smashes the radar. He’s somehow taken another leap in his game this season — and that goes for both ends of the court.
His offense is usually what draws attention, as it should be. Doncic currently leads the league in scoring at 33.6 points per game — this is five points better than his previous career best. The point increase can be attributed to efficiency as Luka is shooting a career-high 49 percent from this field so far.
Defensively, he’s become a stout defender on the switch. He was repeatedly targeted on the pick-and-roll during last year's playoff run to the Western Conference Finals. But this time around, Luka is getting stops more often than not off switches. The problem is, though, the rest of his teammates are not.
Perhaps the biggest threat to Doncic’s playoff hopes is not his actual play, but that of his teammates. Dallas is only 25-23, and seemingly can’t stop a nosebleed defensively as of late. It’s going to take better team results to vault Doncic into MVP.
Nikola Jokic
Only three players have ever won three consecutive MVP awards — and no one since Larry Bird in the 1980s. However, Jokic has set himself up to possibly do it. And as you can tell by the odds, bookies sure believe it’s happening.
Jokic's season stat line remains gaudy: he’s averaging 25.1 points per game, 11 rebounds, and 9.9 assists. His assists are at a career-high, and so is his field goal percentage of 62.6. It’s hard to argue Jokic isn’t the best all-around offensive threat in the game right now. Furthermore, his Nuggets side is winning. They’re 33-14 right now and own the best record in the Western Conference.
But the reason Jokic is our second-favorite pick and not one is a phenomenon we 100-percent believe in — voter fatigue. Journalists ultimately vote on this award, and there’s nothing journalists love more than a “new” story. Is Jokic really doing anything new here? Eh, not really. Jokic will really have to outdo himself and what he accomplished the past two years to pull off a three-peat win. That’s a tall order and Jokic’s short odds make this a backup bet more than anything else.
Jayson Tatum
Do you know the only NBA team that has a better record than Denver? That would be Boston, who is led by Tatum. He has become a dominant two-way player for the C’s. Tatum is averaging 31.2 points a game this season (which is on pace to be a franchise record) and playing with extra intensity on the other end of the court.
For us, Tatum is missing that “MVP moment” or “narrative” that really puts him over his competition. He had pieces of that last year — mainly a 51-point game and an incredible second-half surge by the Celtics. Ultimately, Tatum wasn’t consistent enough to win the 2022 MVP despite those moments and stories, but you need all three to pad your chances at taking the honor. This year, he has the consistency but needs to find the other two in the back half of the year.
Still, Tatum is a perfect alternative bet because it’s not overly difficult or time-consuming to flip the narrative on your side. All it takes is a few Herculean efforts (or injuries to competing MVP frontrunners) to seize momentum. If and when that happens, you want to already have money on Tatum when the odds are this bettor-friendly.
How To Bet On 2023 NBA Player Props?
The MVP winner is just one of several 2023 NBA player props you can gamble on at top online sportsbooks. Other similar wagers are available for Rookie of the Year or Most Improved Player. Hit one of the bookmakers featured underneath to see the full selection. The bookies listed here earned high marks in our latest sportsbook reviews so your money is in good hands no matter where you choose to bet.
One more thing before we let you go: there’s countless sportsbook bonuses available at these sites. These deals all hand out free play to bettors, which could fund your NBA betting completely “on the house.” Take a hard look at the table to see the best bonuses currently there for the taking.
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