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Doug KezirianESPN
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is now the NBA MVP’s favorite or MBA runner-up in most sports books, thanks to his unexpected commitment to the regular season that led the Lakers to the league’s best record.
The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook was the first operator to make James the favorite, posting 4-1 odds Monday night after the 36-year-old rallied the Lakers to a victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. James finished with 46 points in 19-for-26 shooting, including 7-for-11 from 3-point territory.
“People need to be more scared of what they do as they get older. I think this has to be played out in the minds of some voters. I think this could influence some people who didn’t vote for it last year.” SuperBook NBA daily Jeff Sherman told ESPN.
James started the season among the top six favorites, reaching 14-1. However, despite a brief change from the NBA Finals in October until the opening night of this season, James played every game while averaging 25.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.4 assists. decisive.
“The expectation was that he would waste some time and take it easy and prepare for the playoffs. He who doesn’t do that has changed his skin,” Sherman said. “Anthony Davis wasted time and only went through moves and had poor performance. That helped LeBron’s case.”
Currently, William Hill scores James (3-1) as the second favorite behind Luka Doncic (+280).
“He’s on a heater, so people support him, believing the old body will rise,” William Hill trading director Nick Bogdanovich told ESPN, adding that the house would lose if James raised it. last the trophy.
DraftKings has James and Doncic as 5-1 co-favorites. The director of the book of bets, John Avello, declared for ESPN that he reduced the chances due to the constant action of the bettors from the last two weeks, with odds of up to 10-1.
“He plays typical LeBron basketball. He does everything,” Avello said. “Even at the end of the season, if he plays a few games, it’s still about who did the most to bring his team there.
Four times the MVP has not won the 2013 award. James finished second to Giannis Antetokounmpo last year, James Harden in 2018 and Kevin Durant in 2014. If James wins again, he will become the league’s oldest MVP and will be along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6), Michael Jordan (5) and Bill Russell (5) as the only players in league history to have won at least five MVP trophies.
Doncic started this season as a betting favorite and remained close to the top of all sports books. Durant (7-1), Joel Embiid (8-1) and Nikola Jokic (8-1) all became a bigger part of the race. Antetokounmpo (9-1) is still among the leaders, but it will probably take a historic season for the two-time MVP to be out of three crowds.
“Giannis is close to getting out of the conversation. The Bucks are doing less than expected. There’s election fatigue and people can’t help but remember the playoffs,” Sherman said, referring to Milwaukee Bucks’ inability to reach the NBA Finals, despite being the top of the Eastern Conference, each of the last two seasons.
Voters are members of the media who are essentially left to determine their own interpretation of the award. Discussions often involve criteria centered around the player with the most impressive season or who is most valuable to his team.
“Obviously, if you take LeBron out of the Lakers, they’re a different team, but they could support a few stretches. But if you take Luka out of the Mavericks, it would be a very bad team,” Sherman said.
The Lakers are currently 14-4, while the Dallas Mavericks are 8-9. Embiid’s Philadelphia 76ers holds the top ranking of the East right now, with a record of 12-6.