Why Jordan Poole and Devin Booker are better bets for 2022 NBA Finals MVP than Steph Curry 

The latest line movement in betting on the 2022 NBA Finals MVP shows a major push of late for Golden State Warriors’ guard Steph Curry, especially on the money side, according to the latest insights from BetMGM, which now has him at +400 after opening at +1400. 

While much of this push has to do with the Warriors showing signs of their old dominant ways in taking a 3-1 lead over the Denver Nuggets behind Curry’s 27.5 points and 5 assists, it has as much to do with the hamstring injury of Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, who hasn’t played since the third quarter of Game 2 in his team’s series with New Orleans. 

Booker, who had been the NBA Finals MVP favorite at +500 is now at +900, according to the BetMGM Sportsbook data, while reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has fallen from +700 to +850.

FanDuel Sportsbook has Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum sneaking past Giannis into second at +550. FanDuel also has Booker now at +1200 behind Miami’s Jimmy Butler (+750) and Booker’s teammate Chris Paul  

Of note, should Booker come back from an injury suffered in the playoffs to win MVP, he would be following of the footsteps of the Greek Freak, who hyperextended his knee in Game 5 of the 2021 Eastern Conference Semifinals, missed Game 6 and was questionable to play at all in last year’s Finals.

Should the top-seeded Suns survive their tougher-than-expected first-round series with 8^th-seeded New Orleans, Booker would be likely to be ready for a conference semifinal with the winner of the Utah-Denver series and might jump back to front-runner status rather quickly making a +900 bet, or even a +1200 a pretty fair value. 

Remember that the MVP Award is chosen by 11 media members, and sportswriters LOVE comeback stories.

Another reason not to bet Curry for Finals MVP is that he hasn’t even been the best player on his team in round 1. That praise clearly deserves to be heaped upon third-year guard Jordan Poole, who is averaging a ridiculous 24.5 points on 60% shooting from the field and, in the Warriors’ three wins, he's hitting 59% from three-point range. He was only 1-of-5 from deep in their only loss, also a testament to his MVP worthiness. 

Poole entered the Playoffs at +20000 to win Finals MVP. Six days ago, Poole sat at +2800 to and two days later had only risen to +2500. FanDuel, as of Tuesday, had Poole still at +4200.

Poole's opening odds at BetMGM were +10000 and currently sit at +1800, drawing 5% of tickets and 3.4% of the handle.

About the only thing you’d be kicking yourself for not dropping a sawbuck on Poole today is that you didn’t do it earlier.