James Harden Even Money Favorite to Lead NBA In Points Per Game; Steph Curry Given +300 Odds

• Will Russell Westbrook’s addition see Harden’s stats decline?
• Curry to see more touches without Thompson & Durant on the floor
• Westbrook’s Assist Leader odds support Harden’s Scoring Leader campaign

Statistically speaking, the league has never seen a shooter like James Harden, but while his offensive stats continue to improve, will the Rocket’s addition of Russell Westbrook eat into his offensive output?

Looking at the odds to lead the NBA in points per game this season, Harden has opened at even money, while Steph Curry is the biggest contender at +300.

Odds to Lead NBA in PPG for 2019-20 Season

*Odds taken 10/15/19

Houston, We Have a Problem?

Fresh off of a season that saw him average a career-high and league-leading 36.1 points per game, Harden is poised to make another run at the league’s scoring title, an award he brought home in both 2018 and 2019.

While the CP3 experiment proved that Harden has the ability to spread the floor while still getting his shot, Houston’s offseason acquisition of Russell Westbrook, Mr. Isolation himself, has seen many NBA analysts question just how well the two iso-minded players will co-exist in the offense.

🚨Russell Westbrook moving off-ball when James Harden has the ball 🚨

Harden runs 1/5 pick-and-roll. Westbrook in R corner with his defender helping off. As Harden descends to the paint, Westbrook makes a read and slashes. Can’t get layup, but mismatch on switch leads to reverse pic.twitter.com/eUagbHmIXL

— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) October 8, 2019

The Westbrook Factor

Love him or hate him, Westbrook is not scared to take any game into his own hands and OKC fans have both loved and loathed his isolation style of play throughout his career. Last season, Russ ranked 2nd in iso situations, with 353 isolation possessions averaging 0.95 points per possessions.

Harden led the league in iso possessions, with a massive 1,280 on the season in which he averaged 1.11 points per possession.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEi_KdZxmtA

While the Westbrook hate has been alive and well outside of OKC for a while now, history has proven that, despite his desire to have the ball in his hands, he is able to defer when needed.

Look no further than the fact that Kevin Durant won four league scoring titles while sharing the court with Russ.

Injuries Support Curry’s Case

Having won his lone scoring title in the 2015-16 season, Curry has been lucky enough to share the court with some of the league’s top offensive producers, including four-time scoring leader Kevin Durant.

Prior to teaming up with KD, Curry averaged just over 30 ppg. With Durant on the floor, the Warriors had a trio of sharpshooters in Durant, Thompson, and Curry which saw Steph’s production decline as his selfless style of play put the team before his stat line.

With KD in Brooklyn and Klay Thompson out for the majority of the season, Curry could be poised for another MVP campaign as he will be the go-to gun for the Warriors’ offense.

Listed at +550 behind Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (+300) for NBA MVP,  Curry’s chances of taking home the scoring title could be your best value bet, but given that his MVP odds are on offer at the same price, I would rather back another Curry MVP campaign instead.