The 2023-24 NBA season just kicked off, but we’re already thinking about which NBA player will take the MVP award at the end. Why? Because there’s a pretty profit to be made of the futures bet available right now. Get our early MVP winner predictions in this article.
2024 NBA MVP Betting Odds
We have to begin with the current MVP betting odds. These are available at the best betting sites for the NBA. Odds change throughout the season — based on events, injuries, and such. But as of this post date (November 23), these players are betting frontrunners to be named MVP at season’s end:
| Player |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nikola Jokic | +220 | +220 | +220 |
| Luka Doncic | +500 | +500 | +500 |
| Joel Embiid | +750 | +750 | +750 |
| Jayson Tatum | +750 | +750 | +750 |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
| Kevin Durant | +1600 | +1600 | +1600 |
| Steph Curry | +1800 | +1800 | +1800 |
Perhaps it’s no surprise that Jokic of the Nuggets is the far and away frontrunner. He won the award back-to-back between 2021 and 2022, and in most people’s eyes, was robbed of a three-peat in 2023. That’s neither here nor there, but Jokic remains one of the most unique-playing big men the sport has ever seen. Oh, and his Denver team is the defending NBA champions so that helps too.
Team success is a key ingredient to this award, after all. It’s incredibly hard to win the MVP on a team that’s not a serious championship contender. Russell Westbrook might’ve been the last example, doing so with a first-round-and-out team in Oklahoma City. However, his saving grace was becoming the first player in 50-some years to average a triple-double an entire season.
Keep this in mind as we bet on the next MVP winner. Your case to win typically has to include a record-setting performance or just being the best player on the best team in the NBA.
Betting Pick For 2024 NBA MVP
Alright, at this stage of the season — we're only 14 games in out of 82 — you’d be smart to make more than one betting pick for NBA MVP. Why? Because a lot can happen over the next 60-plus games including an injury to your betting pick. Making at least two bets is smart risk management. That’s our strategy here, and this is who we’re putting money on:
Luka Doncic
Doncic has the second-best odds at winning MVP, but in our book, he should be the number-one priority bet. He checks most of the boxes you’d want out of the MVP: crazy good, young (so they can endure a season without missing too many games), likable, and a team that’s contending (Dallas is currently 9-5; fourth in the Western Conference).
Here’s something else Doncic has going for him that affects MVP voting: novelty. Remember, the MVP is voted upon by the media, who love nothing more than a “story.” We’re convinced this is what cost Jokic the award a year ago. Media members simply wanted a novel story and player to write about, hence Embiid’s first-ever MVP trophy.
Anyway, Doncic has that novel story going for him — especially if Dallas can keep this performance pace. The MVP-worthy stats have always been there for Doncic, but not the team success. That could change this year cause so far, the Kyrie Irving experiment in south Texas is working out. Doncic is our priority bet here.
Jayson Tatum
Tatum is our second favorite choice. Here again, he matches Doncic in a lot of regards —individual stats, youth, likability factor, and definitely team success. Ultimately, this latter category is why we were so drawn to betting Tatum.
Whereas we’re not completely sure Dallas will stay winning — Irving is always one incident away from imploding — we’re extremely confident Boston will remain NBA stalwarts, as they have been. There's a solid culture already with the C’s, hence why they’ve made three straight trips to the Eastern Conference Finals.
So far so good as Boston has the NBA’s best record at 11-3. We really believe trading for Jrue Holiday over the offseason (and dumping Marcus Smart in the process) was one of the better acquisitions made around the league. As Holiday continues to gel with his new team, the wins will get easier to accumulate.
Tatum is a perfect complementary bet to Doncic. Both have long enough odds that you’d remain profitable on the bets so long as one ends up winning it.
How To Bet On NBA Awards?
The MVP award is just one of many in the NBA. There’s also Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Coach of the Year, and a few others. All these NBA awards can be bet on at one of the following bookies. Any one of these sites can be your one-stop shop for NBA betting this year, and that includes regular games and the Finals in June too.
Here’s the real kicker about these sites though: they’re offering loads of free money to bettors. We’re talking as much as $2500 in free play at certain places in the form of lucrative sign-up bonuses. That’s not only enough money to fund your NBA MVP bet, but tons of others too. To get in on the free money, all you need to do is create an account at a site and use its supported deposit methods to fund it. The bookie will match part of that deposit back in free play!
