2015 MVP: NBA Odds Favorites And Our Pick To Take Home Title

2015 MVP: NBA Favorites And Our Pick To Take Home Title

Written by on March 23, 2015

NBA Betting News
The 2015 NBA Most Valuable Player race is undoubtedly one of the closest and most exciting in recent memory. With a trio of players that have all separated themselves from the proverbial pack, NBA hoops gamblers need to know which player is most likely to bring home the MVP bacon this season. Thanks to this fun-filled NBA odds betting breakdown on the likely winner of this season’s MVP award, you’ll have a great idea of just which player is most likely to win the coveted honor given annually to the league’s best player. Okay, with all of that said, let’s get started with a look at the odds to in the MVP race before going on to provide an in-depth look at each possible winner.

2015 MVP: NBA Odds Favorites And Our Pick To Take Home Title

   

2014-15 NBA MVP Odds

Stephen Curry EVEN Russell Westbrook 2-1 James Harden 4-1 LeBron James 5-1

Stephen Curry (1-1)

Curry is the odds-on-favorite right now, but he’s certainly not a lock to win this season’s MVP award, although he would probably be in most other seasons. Anyway, Curry is the undisputed leader of a Golden State Warriors team that is as legitimate as any NBA Finals contender as there is in the league. Not only is Curry the best shooter on the face of the planet today, but he’s also a mesmerizing ball-handler that has learned to make his teammates better this season by dishing the rock whenever he encounters the now-constant doubles teams that opponents are defending him with. The fifth-year floor leader is averaging 23.6 points per game on a blistering 48.2 percent shooting mark from the field while shooting an equally-impressive 41.9 percent from beyond the arc. Curry also shoots a stunning 90.3 percent from the free throw line while dishing out 7.8 assists per game. While those statistics tell the story of what Curry is giving the Warriors at the offensive end of the floor, what they don’t say is that Curry has become a much better defender this season, routinely making plays that he has never made at that end of the floor while averaging a career-high 2.1 steals per game. The Warriors have also won 50 games in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history – and Curry – more than any other player on the Warriors roster – is the driving force behind his team’s stunning success. Curry’s player efficiency rating (PER) of 27.6 is second among the MVP candidates.

Russell Westbrook (2-1)

Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook has gone absolutely bonkers over the last six weeks and is playing at a historic pace that hasn’t been seen since the legendary Oscar Robertson hung up his sneakers about four decades ago. Westbrook is averaging a league-leading 27.5 points per game while also pulling down a stellar 7.8 rebounds per contest and dishing out an impressive 8.3 assists per game. The only downside to Westbrook’s MVP campaign is the fact that he’s shooting just 43.3 percent from the field and a discouraging 29.2 percent from three-point distance. Still, the high-flying, athletic point guard has put the Thunder on his back ever since reigning league MVP Kevin Durant went down about a month ago with a lingering foot injury that has plagued the league’s reigning MVP ever since the preseason. In February, Westbrook led the Thunder to an impressive 9-3 record while averaging a jaw-dropping 31.2 points, 10.3 assists and 9.1 rebounds to become the first player since the Big O to average 30-10-9 for an entire calendar month. Westbrook also the highest PER of any MVP candidate at a stunning 29.8.

James Harden (4-1)

At this point, opposing defenders across the league are all ‘fearing the beard’ when they have to go up against Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden. The ‘bearded one’ is second in scoring to Westbrook and is averaging 26.8 points per game while pulling down 5.8 rebounds and dishing out a stunning 7.1 assist per contest. More importantly, Harden may have the best argument of anyone in the MVP race as he has almost single-handedly kept the Rockets in contention despite being without former perennial all-star center Dwight Howard for the better part of the last three months. Harden is shooting 44.3 percent from the field and a solid 37.3 percent from three-point distance while also draining 86.4 percent of his free throw attempts and coming up with a career-high 2.0 steals per contest. Harden has an impressive PER of 26.6.

LeBron James (5-1)

LeBron James is averaging a jaw-dropping 26.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1,6 steals while shooting a scorching 49.1 percent from the field. I know it’s crazy to think that James is the fourth-best candidate to win this season’s MVP award, but he really is. Unless James goes on a historic run of his own over the next month, he likely has little to no chance to win what I believe is a three-man MVP race. Still, James is averaging 26.6 points per game in March and has a PER of 26.2. And the Winner Is: If I were picking favorites, I’d easily pick the exciting Steph Curry. The fact of the matter is that the ‘baby-faced assassin’ is endearing to fans with his boyish good looks and ‘sweet’ off-court personality. However, I’m not picking the player I like most which is why I’m going with James Harden as my pick to win this season’s MVP award. While Russell Westbrook’s legitimacy cannot be questioned after his historic run last month, the fact of the matter is that James Harden has played without Dwight Howard much longer than Westbrook has been without Kevin Durant and the sweet-shooting leader of the Rockets has done a better job in my estimation of keeping the Rockets relevant in the loaded Western Conference. Houston is currently the fourth seed in the West and has a better record than the L.A. Clippers, defending-champion San Antonio Spurs and Russell Westbrook’s Oklahoma City Thunder and the most credit for their success has to go to Harden. I like the way Harden has found a way to make his teammates better and believe he’s arguably the most unstoppable offensive force in the league today because of his ability to shoot it from distance or take the ball to the rack in traffic and either finish at the rim or dish it to an appreciative teammate, I‘m going with James Harden first, followed by picks for Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry and then, LeBron James.

MVP Pick: James Harden