Jokic, Smart, Mobley among Betting Favorites for NBA Awards

Scott Cullen

Last updated: April 5, 2022 9:56 AM EDT • 4 min read

As the NBA regular season winds down, many awards are getting locked in, but there may still be a race for league MVP, with two elite big men battling for the award.

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, who took home MVP honors last season, has made a strong case again this season and is now the favorite on BetMGM, priced at -275. Jokic started the season priced at +1600, tied with Trae Young for the seventh shortest odds in the field, behind Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry, and LeBron James. In hindsight, not a huge amount of respect for the reigning MVP.

While Jokic is now the betting favorite, Embiid is the biggest liability at BetMGM, with 18.2% of the tickets and 29.3% of the money wagered going on the Philadelphia 76ers center, who finished second in the MVP voting last season. By comparison, Jokic is on 16.1% of the tickets, with 24.5% of the money on the Denver Nuggets center.

The trend had been gradually moving in Jokic’s favor throughout the season but momentum has picked up recently.

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Defensive Player of the Year

In other NBA awards races, Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart has climbed into position to potentially win Defensive Player of the Year, now a favorite at +125 after opening at +4000. While Smart is favored, he has close challengers, including Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (+275) and Phoenix Suns small forward Mikal Bridges (+375).

As worthy as he might be, Adebayo has only played 54 games which makes it more challenging for him to compete with players that have essentially played full seasons.

Bridges is on 37.7% of the DPOY tickets at BetMGM, which is much higher than anyone else (Giannis, on 11.5% of tickets, is second) and yet it appears that the smart money in the market is on Marcus Smart, because 22.7% of the handle is on the Celtics guard, which is more than Bridges (21.1%), Rudy Gobert (18.0%), and Adebayo (17.5%).

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Rookie of the Year

This award looked like it was headed to Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Evan Mobley, but a late-season ankle injury to Mobley might open the door a crack for a possible challenger. Mobley started the season priced at +800, tied for the second shortest odds, behind Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham. The top pick in the 2021 Draft, Cunningham was the preseason favorite (+250) and has come on strong in the second half of the season but has played just 62 games and is now priced at +750.

Even so, his early favorite status has Cunningham on an incredible 55.7% of the ROY tickets, for 33.2% of the handle. Mobley is on just 9.2% of the tickets but 34.8% of the handle.

The one other challenger in this mix is Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes, who started at +800, the same as Mobley, and now has the second shortest odds on the board at +200. Barnes is on 10.8% of the tickets, good for 21.1% of the handle at BetMGM. Barnes does have a case, as his advanced metrics tend to rate higher than Mobley’s, but the question is whether having a higher Value Over Replacement Player or Box Plus-Minus is really going to swing the pendulum in Barnes’ favor. The old school argument for Barnes’ case would be that he plays a vital role on a team that is ahead of Mobley’s Cavs in the standings.

Most Improved Player

This award has been tilted towards Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant for some time. After opening the season at +3000, Morant is now a -800 favorite. While Morant is on 12.5% of the tickets, he brings in a whopping 48.7% of the handle to BetMGM.

Sixth Man Of The Year

Miami Heat shooting guard Tyler Herro was priced at +2000 to start the season but has been in the driver’s seat for a long time, and is now a -10000 favorite, earning 22.3% of the wagers and 72.0% of the handle at BetMGM.

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Written By:
Scott Cullen

Scott Cullen is SportsbookReview.com's Sports Betting Analyst and is one of the most well-known sports betting writers on the web. He wrote about fantasy sports for TSN for many years, and he has also written for The Athletic, NHL.com, The Hockey News, Monkey Knife Fight, and McKeen's Hockey. Born in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, Cullen was an Economics major at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario and played for the Laurier Golden Hawks hockey team.