Oddsmakers peg Nikola Jokic as slight favorite for 2024 NBA MVP

The best player in the world who also happens to be the game’s highest-paid performer is the favorite to win MVP. Okay, big shocker!

Well, when you consider how much of a shock it was that Joel Embiid at the last second swooped in and kept Nikola Jokic from a third-straight MVP and only one of them is still among the frontrunners heading into next season, it’s a bit surprising. At least it would be surprising if had tried to guess the correct one before the playoffs. But thanks to Embiid’s embarrassing playoff lost for the Philadelphia 76ers that got big-name coach Doc Rivers fired, and Jokic’s historic 16-4 title run which netted the Denver Nuggets their first championship, it’s the Joker who heads into the coming season with momentum for an MVP.

Oddsmakers put Jokic at +450 to win the trophy while two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo is right behind at +550 and fellow foreign star Luka Doncic comes in at +600.

Nikola Jokic opens the 2023-24 NBA season as the favorite to win MVP, according to @SuperBookCO. Jokic comes in at +450, meaning a $100 wager would net $450. Right behind Jokic is Giannis Antetokounmpo at +550 and Luka Doncic at +600.

— Zach Bye (@byesline) July 12, 2023

Even casual fans now recognize Jokic as the world’s best player after winning NBA Finals MVP and carrying the Nuggets to a ring.

In 69 regular-season games, Jokic scored 24.5 points, grabbed 11.8 rebounds and threw 9.8 assists per contest while going for an NBA-best 70% true shooting. Jokic led the league in Player Efficiency Rating, Win Shares, Box Plus-Minus and Value Over Replacement Player. In knocking off the Wolves, Suns, Lakers and Heat this past postseason Jokic scored 30 a game, grabbed 13.5 rebounds and dished 9.5 helpers while shooting 55% from the field in the postseason.

Jokic’s third MVP will be remembered as stolen by the media and given to Embiid, who won by a wide margarin despite the Nuggets center the race for much of the season and the 76ers’ star’s spring duck of Denver.

What could be a fun storyline developing in the NBA is not the rivalry of Jokic against Embiid, who he has clearly passed but rather Joker against The Alphabet in a 2020s version of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. The Serbian and Greek square off on the international stage, now each have two NBA MVPs, a Finals MVP and a ring, and are similar in age. The two couldn’t play the game more differently but each has an immense respect for another.

The Nuggets were crowned champion this past season but the Milwaukee Bucks were best of the regular season and it took an injury to Antetokounmpo which led to their historic 8th-seeded Head upset over them.

While Bird and Magic had the college rivalry and then the Celtics and Lakers to launchpad their matchups and then Team USA to bring them together could this be a new chapter of NBA greats dueling at the top of the game? Or maybe Jokic will just claim another MVP and run it back with the Nuggets as he cements a historic peak.

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