As the NBA regular season starts to enter its final stretch, this is the opportune time to check out who is leading the race to pick up the prestigious NBA MVP award for the 2021-22 season.
The NBA season is a long and arduous one, and the players who fight it out for the honor that goes with the MVP award are those who manage to make an impact from day one all the way through to the end of the season, and that’s a tough ask of anyone.
The ins and outs that are part and parcel of the NBA season make the chances of winning a lucrative bet of any kind can be very tricky indeed. You can, of course, stay on top of the latest odds from the main brands, such as from sidelines.io/nba/odds, and it helps to have a good knowledge of the game and the players who are really making a concerted impact.
The NBA MVP award race is as tight as ever, but arguably there are three genuine challengers as we move towards the end of the regular season, so let’s take a closer look at those frontrunners.
Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers)
Embiid is the big favorite right now, and it’s very much his to lose at this stage. The Cameroon-born star moved to the Wells Fargo Center at the third overall pick for the 76ers in the 2014 NBA draft. He’s suffered from injuries throughout his time in Philadelphia and missed nine games in November, but that shouldn’t affect his chances of picking up the MVP award.
He’s currently averaging 29.8 points per game, with only LeBron James ahead of him on that metric, and his efforts have catapulted the Philadelphia 76ers to the top of the Eastern Conference and in with a shot of a first NBA title in almost forty years.
Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets)
The ‘Joker’ won the MVP award last season and is perhaps the only genuine rival to Embiid for this season’s trophy. There is an argument that in any other team, Jokic would be even more effective, and currently, his Nuggets team (44-31 and sixth in the Western Conference) aren’t living up to his consistent displays.
Jokic averages 33 minutes per game and averages 26.3 points per game but, of course, offers a whole bunch more than just those numbers. He sits in second place in terms of average rebounds per game and in the top ten for assists, and if Embiid wasn’t a factor, the Croatian would be picking up back-to-back MVP awards for sure.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)
The Greek star pretty much single-handedly took the Milwaukee Bucks to the title last season, and many would have expected the 27-year-old to struggle to hit similar heights, but he’s done a great job in maintaining similar levels.
He is third in terms of points per game, with 29.7, and once again, the Bucks are set to have a great season, chiefly because of what he offers Mike Budenholzer.