Halfway through the NBA season, the 2020/21 Most Valuable Player race is shaping up to be a competitive one.
As David Purdum of ESPN details, Lakers forward LeBron James had been the betting favorite to win his fifth MVP award, but he was surpassed over the All-Star break by Sixers center Joel Embiid, who is the new frontrunner at Caesars Sportsbook. Embiid is followed closely by LeBron and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.
All three All-Stars have compelling MVP cases. Embiid hasn’t played enough games in past seasons to warrant serious consideration, but he has missed just six of Philadelphia’s first 36 games this season and is posting the best numbers of his career — 30.2 PPG, 11.6 RPG, and 3.3 APG, with an outstanding .521/.416/.856 shooting line.
Embiid is getting to the free throw line more than any other NBA player (11.6 times per game), has anchored a top-five defense, and is the best player on the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed. His on/off-court numbers offer a clear-cut picture of his value, as the 76ers have a +11.1 net rating when he plays, compared to -6.3 when he doesn’t.
Of course, Embiid isn’t the only player whose team crates when he’s off the court. The Lakers are a +9.1 when James plays and a -4.4 when he doesn’t. And LeBron, at age 36, is still improbably putting up his usual monster numbers, including 25.8 PPG, 8.0 RPG, and 7.8 APG on 50.9% shooting. He has helped keep the Lakers (and their top-ranked defense) afloat despite Anthony Davis‘ recent absence, and L.A.’s 24-13 record puts the club just a half-game back of Philadelphia.
The Nuggets’ net rating is about 10 points higher when Jokic is on the court, and the big man is showing off the kind of offensive game rarely seen from a center — in addition to his impressive scoring (27.1 PPG) and rebounding (11.0 RPG) numbers, Jokic is averaging an eye-popping 8.6 assists per contest and is knocking down 41.8% of his three-point attempts.
The Nuggets are currently sixth in the West, and if that doesn’t improve, it’ll hurt Jokic’s case, but Denver was rolling before the All-Star break and is only 2.5 games back of the third-seeded Lakers.
Embiid, James, and Jokic look like the MVP frontrunners for now, but none of them are running away with the award and there’s plenty of time for others to enter the mix. According to Purdum, Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, Warriors guard Stephen Curry, and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo make up the next tier of betting favorites.
It’s hard to imagine Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Gobert receiving serious consideration, even if the Jazz hold the No. 1 spot. Meanwhile, the Nets are knocking on the door of the East’s No. 1 seed, but Kevin Durant will probably miss too much time to get a ton of MVP votes, and James Harden‘s case will be hurt by his start to the season in Houston. But Harden deserves a look, as do Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard and Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard.
In a shortened season, things could change quickly. Injuries, hot streaks, and slumps could shake up the race in the coming weeks. The power of narrative shouldn’t be understated either, as some voters may like the idea of LeBron getting a fifth MVP award, while others may gravitate toward a first-time winner like Embiid or Jokic.
What do you think? Who has been the NBA’s Most Valuable Player so far? And do you think that same player will win the award at season’s end?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
It’s a two-man race between Embiid and Jokic, no one else is even close.
Even though he gets 12 free throw attempts per game it’s OK since he’s not Harden.
I will select someone from Jazz as MVP
I don’t pick Beal or Westbrook
On paper Beal And Westbrook are much better players
You sound like a lakers fan
Lebrons pretty cool
Joel
Joker
LeBron…in that order …..
Then Harden making a hard hard push as a wildcard that aint so wild these days-
Curry gets dinged for team W/L but he’s right next to Lebron in either direction if not
I wanna see a Center win it personally, so Im pulling for either of my top 2 Rn
Embiid at this point and I don’t think it’s close. He’s been dominant this year, offense and defense. I mean he just put up 40 and 19 against the DPOY front runner in Gobert.
Stats are there but also passes the eye test. Every game I’ve watched, he’s been the best player on the court. I think his biggest difference this year has been not settling for bad 3s.
Biggest concern will be health bc if he ends up missing a substantial amount of time in the 2nd half that’ll obv derail his case.
For comparison, Jokic’s two games against Gobert this season were other-worldly as well:
1/17/2021 — 35 pts, 14 reb (8 off reb), 9 asts
1/31/2021 — 47 pts, 12 reb, 5 asts
I don’t think Jokic wins in the end, but the complete dominance is astounding from both players. It’s a shame Embiid missed the game against Denver earlier this season — that head-to-head matchup on 3/30 will be must-see.
Thanks for that tbh I didn’t know jokic stats against gobert. They both seem to have dominated him which makes you think why is gobert the front runner for DPOY if the best centers have their way with him.
I agree, would have liked to have seen embiid and jokic head to head as well. Hopefully that 3/30 game is on national TV.
Embiid is going to win it
“Halfway through the NBA season, the 2020/21 Least Valuable Player race is shaping up to be a competitive one.”
Jared Dudley is a lock for that award every year
I’ll pull the Jared dudley cards around here mate
Harden by far, no match.
Lol
Steph Curry has a 15 win team playing 45 win basketball, no one is close.
When Curry had talent around him they claimed he had to much help. Now that he doesn’t have talent they do not give him the respect he deserves.
How do Mitchell and Gobert not even merit consideration? The team with the best record and certainly not the most talent has someone there that is pretty valuable.
1/ Jokic (best individual season in the last 40 years so far)
2/ Embiid (first center since Kareem in the 70’s to get 30PPG so far)
3/ Giannis
4/ Harden
5/ Luka
6/ KD
7/ Vucevic
8/ Curry
9/ LBJ
10/ Beal
Dame, Kawhi & KAT are very close to the top 10.
Did you ever hear of Moses Malone? Why say stuff like “first center since Kareem in the ’70s to get 30PPG” if you don’t even know what you’re talking about? Malone averaged over 30 a game in the ’80s
Fo Fo Fo…best playoff prediction ever!
You don’t know what your talking about matey, if you looked at the stats properly he averaged 22 points a season in the 80s ✌️&❤️
But the point of Curtisrowe’s post was to point out another center, aside from Kareem, got 30ppg since the 1970s. As Curtisrowe correctly says, Moses Malone did it in the 1980s. 1981-82, to be specific.
Otherwise, feel free to disagree with El Don’s post, because by your logic, if you look at Embiid’s career stats properly, he averages 24 points a season.
Yeah he didn’t specify just those seasons just 80’s which could mean 1980 to 1989, so don’t be angry at me matey✌️&❤️
No anger – it’s all love, brother
Jokic, if Denver doesn’t hold him back. I think he’s the best player in the league and the guy I’d pick first in a draft of all NBA players to play one season. But, using history as a guide, he won’t win it if Denver doesn’t finish better in the standings than where they are now. Nothing in the history of the award indicates that a player’s specific value to his team is the standard, but Jokic would win that category if there were. I think there will be a drumbeat for LeBron winning another. These things can be hard to turn back. At least he’s been worthy this year.
Lebron doesn’t deserve MVP this year because with AD put his team has a losing record hence AD is the Lakers best player.
I’m curious to know the W-L record without those MVP candidates when they miss a game. LeBron now has to prove it without AD and the Lakers are fading. Embiid is my pick. Dude is crushing people. I wish Dame received more consideration for a 3rd of 4th place finish if they move up. His clutch stats are just ridiculous.
I think Bradley Beal is a sneaky candidate to win it
They don’t give MVP’s to players on losing teams, no matter how good a season they had. Westbrook barely won it when his team was 47-35.
Serious question here but where do you think standings wiise does Julius Randle land? In other words is he a top 20 or 30 player?
Lillard’s team has a winning record despite their second and third-leading scorers being out injured for much of the season. The problem….his team plays in Portland which might not be the end of the NBA Earth but you can certainly see it from there. Which brings us to a bigger problem – small-market teams have big-time trouble in the NBA.
LeBron shouldn’t even be one of the finalists for MVP.
If he is it will be purely on past-performance just like it was last year. Two of the finalists will be Jokic and Embiid, the third probably either Giannis or Harden.