Breaking down updated NBA MVP odds during the break

The NBA has been on hold since March 11 but we’re getting closer to returning to basketball. With the League stopped, we saw plenty of close races for awards come to a halt. One of the more intriguing races was MVP — duh, it usually is every season. We had a clear frontrunner in Giannis Antetokounmpo and then LeBron James right behind him with a few other players sort of hovering around. After a 3-month hiatus, the NBA is set to return in late July. Let’s take a look at the updated MVP odds on DraftKings Sportsbook.

So it’s not hard to tell that the coronavirus pandemic really hurt the MVP market. Before the break, we could at least imagine the idea of LeBron overcoming the gap and catching Giannis for MVP. Now, at least to the books, that doesn’t seem possible. I’d still give LeBron a shot depending on how the final eight games of the regular season go and how seeding shakes out. The Bucks’ eight games are meaningless really and the Lakers would only be fending off the Clippers. So voters may see it as not enough to argue James gets it over The Greek Freak.

Since it was almost always a two-man race, there’s not much to discuss otherwise. Had there been a finish to the regular season, sure, we could have maybe seen a late surge from say Luka Doncic or James Harden for MVP. Now, it’s just too crazy. Both players really don’t have enough time to make up ground at this point. Unfortunately, the market has kind of dried up here. Giannis should run away with the award.

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