Doncic fits the description as the single player who is the most valuable to his team. The Mavs are only 10-10 this season. But if you remove Doncic from the mix, the Mavs would be one of the worst teams in the Western Conference.
Antetokounmpo is a combination of both voting methods. He s the best player from one of the top teams in the league, but the Bucks would collapse without him. The Bucks are the second-best team in the Eastern Conference with a 14-5 record.
The Mavs and Doncic are the perfect example of a heliocentric offense, where Doncic is the sun at the center of their universe and the team revolves around him. Remove the sun and the universe collapses. Remove Doncic, and the Mavs are competing with the Houston Rockets for a 2023 NBA Draft Lottery pick.
Doncic, the starting point guard for the Mavs, leads the NBA in scoring, averaging 33.5 points per game. He s also pulling down 8.8 rebounds per game while dishing 8.6 assists per game.
Doncic exploded for 44 points against the Orlando Magic in late October for his highest-scoring game of the season.
On Tuesday night, Doncic dropped a 41-point triple-double in a victory against the Golden State Warriors. He added 12 rebounds, 12 assists, four steals, and one block in the 3-point victory. It marked his fifth triple-double this season in 19 appearances.
Doncic was the preseason favorite last year to win the MVP, but he finished fifth in voting after Denver Nuggets center won back-to-back MVP awards. Doncic began the new NBA season as the consensus MVP favorite at +425 odds, according to DraftKings. He s still the betting favorite at +270 odds. But the field is closing in on him.
Meanwhile, Jokic is +2000 odds to win a third-straight MVP, but he’s not really in contention this season. The Nuggets missed two key starters last season because of injuries, and Jokic stepped up to pick up the scoring slack. However, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter are back in the lineup this season for the Nuggets.
Jayson Tatum +280The Boston Celtics lost to the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals. Tatum, the starting power forward for the Celtics, took a lot of guff from fans for his inconsistent play and poor 3-point shooting in the NBA Finals.
The Celtics entered this season on a mission to win a championship. The off-season wasn t without drama, however, while dealing with Kevin Durant trade rumors. The Celtics also navigated a scandal involving last year s head coach, Ime Udoka. The for the season because of an inappropriate relationship with a married female staff member. The Celtics promoted assistant coach Joe Mazzula to interim head coach, and they didn t skip a beat.
Tatum is averaging a career-best 30.8 points per game, while adding 7.7 rebounds and 4.6 assists. A couple of weeks ago, Tatum torched the Detroit Pistons for 43 points and 10 rebounds.
Tatum and the Celtics defeated Doncic and the Mavs last week. Doncic scored a game-high 42 points, but Tatum tallied 37 points and .
At the start of the NBA season, Tatum was +1400 odds to win the MVP as the seventh favorite on the board. He s made the biggest jump and finds himself right behind Doncic at +280 odds.
