2021-22 NBA MVP Picks, Predictions, Odds and Best Bets

Betting for the 2021-22 NBA MVP race is officially up and running, with Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic the MVP favorite at +400, and reining MVP Nikola Jokic at +1400 to go back-to-back.

Unsurprisingly, the top of the board is full of superstars, with the top few favorites including Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid and Kevin Durant.

NBA 2021-22 MVP Odds

• Luka Doncic +400
• Joel Embiid +750
• Kevin Durant +750
• Giannis Antetokounmpo +850
• Steph Curry +850
• LeBron James +1100
• Damian Lillard +1200
• Nikola Jokic +1400
• Trae Young +1900

Now, let's get into our expert MVP picks and predictions for the 2021-22 NBA season ⬇️

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Dimers' NBA 2021-22 MVP Predictions

Our NBA MVP best picks:

Jason Bevilacqua: Giannis +850
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"Voter fatigue". That seemed to be consensus reason why Giannis Antetokounmpo did not become a three-time NBA MVP last season after winning the previous two awards.

Now, after an NBA title and an NBA Finals MVP award to boot, everyone seems to have fallen in love with Giannis again. The Greek Freak is only 26 years old and put up similar numbers last year to the previous two years in which he won the award. Don't fall for the trap that the title has made him less motivated or less hungry - Giannis knows that he is in the midst of building a legacy. A third MVP is a certainty if he can match or improve on those stats from his previous three seasons.

Ryan Leaver: Luka Doncic +400
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This isn't really a groundbreaking pick with Luka the outright favorite in the betting market, but it's hard to pass up on him even at these odds.

The 22-year-old Slovenian continues to get better every single season and even seems to take his game to a whole new level at the recent Tokyo Olympics.

To win the award, Luka would need to become the youngest MVP since Derrick Rose in 2011 but no player has entered the league and looked as at-home as Luka has so far in his career.

His on-court relationship with Kristaps Porzingis will likely need to improve, but if Doncic can lead the Mavs to a Top-4 seed (they were 5th last season) then it's going to be tough for anyone in the league to match his offensive numbers.

Our NBA MVP value picks:

Jason: James Harden +2600
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This is a tough one, because we know that if the Nets are healthy that the three big boys are all going to share the spoils of success together. The only thing is though, that it's rare for these three players to ever be healthy all at the same time. 

Harden is less injury-prone than Durant and Irving, only recently suffering setbacks due to hamstring injuries that kept him out for the backend of the regular season last year after generating some MVP buzz after his switch from Houston to Brooklyn. A lot would have to go right (or in the Nets' case, wrong) for Harden to end up as the MVP, but we know his class is there.

Ryan: James Harden +2600
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The 2017-18 MVP comes into this season at some really tasty odds of +2600, with team-mate Kevin Durant the more favored Net, with odds of +750.

Two of the Nets big three (KD and Kyrie) have missed plenty of time over the past couple of seasons, and although Harden has experienced some injuries of is own, he feels like the safest pick to play 75+  game these season, with an important role of holding the fort down when the other two miss.

There was a period last season just after Harden moved to BK where the MVP chatter was growing by the day. Frankly, if he can play the facilitator role as well as he was then, with the Nets likely to top the East, Harden's odds will be much shorter than +2600 as the season goes on.

Our NBA MVP sleepers:

Jason: Anthony Davis +2800
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LeBron teases it every year with every team he's on, that one day he will relinquish the role as alpha dog to his sidekick. It never eventuated when he was with Kyrie, but maybe this will finally be the year for Anthony Davis? AD will need to string together an injury-free season, but if King James really wanted to make this happen, he could set Davis up for the ultimate individual success. 

Ryan: Zion Williamson +4000
Bet $10, win $400 at PointsBet

It's very hard to find value down the board for the NBA MVP this season, but one guy with some nice odds is the 2019 No.1 pick, Zion Williamson.

Zion is one of the favorites for the NBA Most Improved Player award this season but if the big fella improves on his 27-7-4 from last season, he could figure in MVP conversations come March or April.

It would likely take the Pelicans flying up the standings but if Zion and Brandon Ingram can become a truly formidable offensive pair, then any team would struggle to stop them.

There will be a point in the next couple of years where Zion's odds will be MUCH less than they are this season, so he could be worth throwing some pizza money on whilst we can still get these sort of pre-season odds.

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