Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid will be battling for the MVP all season long.
All it took for Nikola Jokic to catch Joel Embiid as the betting favorite to win MVP this season? A perfect triple-double for the Denver Nuggets superstar coupled with his Philadelphia 76ers foil missing multiple games due to injury.
Both Jokic and Embiid are now +250 odds to win basketball’s highest individual honor, per FanDuel sportsbook. Embiid held a lead over Jokic prior to the latest odds update, his career-best season with a rebuilt Philadelphia squad making him the MVP frontrunner after he took home the award last season. Jokic, meanwhile, finished second to Embiid in MVP voting in 2022-23, narrowly missing out on winning the Michael Jordan Trophy for a historic third consecutive season.
Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder round out FanDuel’s top-four in MVP odds, at +430 and +450, respectively. No other player has better than +1500 odds for MVP, just further indication that Embiid, Jokic, Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander have separated themselves from the pack.
Jokic and the Nuggets actually fell to Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder on Friday in a battle between Western Conference powers, Denver playing on the second leg of a back-to-back. He was absolutely stellar 24 hours earlier, though, going 11-of-11 from the field while dropping 26 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists during a blowout win over Memphis Grizzlies, who played without an ill Ja Morant.
Embiid, meanwhile, hasn’t played since December 22nd, missing the Sixers’ last three games with an ankle injury. He’s been even more statistically dominant than Jokic this season, averaging 35.0 points, 11.7 rebounds, six assists and 2.0 blocks per game on 65.1% true shooting.
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