Did Joel Embiid wrap up the NBA MVP race on Tuesday night?
The Philadelphia 76ers superstar turned in arguably his best performance of the season, scoring 52 points and adding 13 rebounds in a two-point win over the Boston Celtics.
Meanwhile, Nikola Jokic returned from a calf injury (in limited minutes) in a Denver Nuggets’ loss to the Houston Rockets.
That’s caused a major shift in the latest MVP odds, with Embiid looking like a lock to win the award.
Joel Embiid set as huge favorite in latest NBA MVP odds
At -550, Embiid has an implied probability of 83.3 percent to win the league’s most prestigious individual award this season.
It makes sense, as he’s certainly made up some ground on Jokic with the Nuggets star sitting out a few games. The players were set at a near pick’em for the award about a week ago.
Sixers head coach Doc Rivers showed his support for Embiid, claiming the MVP race to be over after the big man’s 52-point game on Tuesday.
Obviously Rivers is going to support his guy, but Embiid has an extremely compelling case considering that he’s leading the league in points per game (33.3) and still averaging a double-double on the season.
Jokic is nearly averaging a triple-double, but it’s rare air to come away with three straight MVP awards. If he’s not the clear-cut favorite, and he’s not at this point in the season, voters may lean more towards Embiid for parity in the award.
Embiid has come up short in consecutive seasons in the NBA MVP race, but based on the latest odds he’s going to finally break through. Jokic (+600) and Giannis Antetokoounmpo (+650) both have less than at 15 percent chance (based on implied probability) to be crowned the league’s MVP this season.
—
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.