Updated NBA Awards Odds – New Favorites for MVP, ROY, Most Improved and Sixth Man of the Year

• The first two weeks of the season has seen major movement in some of the NBA awards
• Steph Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo are tied atop the MVP odds, while Scottie Barnes has become Rookie of the Year favorite
• Read below for a run through of the odds for all of the major awards

The first fortnight of the NBA season is in the books. While it’s still early to make sweeping conclusions about teams or players, we’ve already seen signs of overachievement from teams and some players who have taken a leap. At the other end of the spectrum, there are teams who have fallen short of preseason expectations and players who have started slowly.

From the NBA MVP odds to the Rookie of the Year, Most Improved and Sixth Man of the Year, let’s take a look at where the odds stand with teams having played seven or eight games.

2021-22 NBA MVP Odds

All Odds as of Nov 3 at FanDuel

Steph Curry Surging to Favorite

Once again the preseason favorite, Luka Doncic has slipped to +800 in the 2021-22 NBA MVP betting. Part of this is down Dallas’ up and down play, but Doncic’s numbers have also been less outrageous than many projected with just 24/8/7 from the Slovenian so far.

The strong performances of Golden State have aided Steph Curry’s surge here, and the production from Giannis Antetokounmpo makes him an obvious favorite yet again.

Jimmy Butler is the MVP favorite right now.

25.0 PPG*
6.9 RPG*
5.6 APG
2.9 SPG*
51.3 FG%*
62.2 TS%*
6-1 record

*Career-high pic.twitter.com/CkBk9SeOFF

— StatMuse (@statmuse) November 3, 2021

LeBron James, James Harden and Dame Lillard have all seen their odds lengthen. They are all still a shorter price than Jimmy Butler at +3000, though. Miami leads the NBA in net rating and Butler has been superb at both ends, scoring 25 per game with seven boards, 5.6 assists and three steals. The former Bull looks a good price right now – he won’t stay at +3000 for long if the Heat keep playing like this.

Curry and Antetokounmpo are deserving of their co-favorite status. The Bucks might only be 4-4, but Giannis is dragging his team through games even with several starters missing. The Warriors look good, and Curry hasn’t got properly going yet. Giannis is the still best bet of the top seven right now.

2021-22 NBA Rookie of the Year Odds

Raptors Rookie Has Impressed

Scottie Barnes, Jalen Green and Evan Mobley got a head start in the Rookie of the Year race while Cade Cunningham recovered from an ankle injury. Barnes and Mobley took advantage in a big way. Green has been wildly inconsistent to date, scoring 13 or fewer in five of his seven games, but showed his upside with 30 against Boston and 24 against the Lakers.

Chris Duarte made early headlines with his performances for the Pacers. Handed a starting role, Duarte has lived up to his reputation as a shooter and has put up almost 18 points per game. He’s still an outsider behind the top four picks, though, while fifth overall selection Jalen Suggs has fallen out to +2200. The former Gonzaga guard is shooting under 31% from the field and could be in for a difficult year on a struggling Magic team.

huge ovation in Detroit for Cade Cunningham as he makes his NBA debut with a big defensive hustle play. pic.twitter.com/GPlVlbLrMM

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) October 30, 2021

A case can be made for any of the top four. Josh Giddey, Duarte, Franz Wagner, Davion Mitchell and others have shown they can be good NBA players, but it’s a big ask to compete with the potential production of Barnes, Green, Mobley and Cunningham.

Cunningham is three-for-22 in his first two games in the pros. It’s been a rough start. This is a rookie working his way back from injury and figuring things out on a bad team, though. As good as Mobley and Barnes have been, Cunningham will eventually have the opportunity to put up big numbers on this Pistons team, while Barnes could see his usage drop off when Pascal Siakam returns and Mobley is competing with several others for stats.

2021-22 NBA Most Improved Player Odds

Morant Distances Himself From Crowded Pack of Contenders

Often the hardest to predict of the major awards, the Most Improved Player market has seen huge change. Michael Porter Jr is way out at +3600 after being among the favorites on opening night, and a white-hot start to the year from Ja Morant has seen him become the betting favorite ahead of Miles Bridges and Tyler Herro. Herro is flourishing on the new-look Heat, and Bridges has picked up from where he left off in the second half of last year.

Ja Morant is insane pic.twitter.com/rInXByAHK1

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 30, 2021

This award often goes to third-year players. Morant is in his third season, and has upped his scoring by nine points. Perhaps most crucially for his longer term development, he’s been knocking down threes at an above-average rate. If that sticks for the year, with his supernatural athleticism and underrated playmaking, Morant is going to be hard to beat here.

Bridges and Herro have enjoyed similar scoring increases, and like Morant, Dejounte Murray appears to have found a three-point shot. Murray was always an interesting pick for this award given DeMar DeRozan’s departure, though the Spurs’ likely poor record might make it harder for him to compete without a really explosive offensive season.

OG Anunoby career-high night:

36 PTS
6 REB
4 3PT

He’s averaging career-highs in points, rebounds, assists and steals this season. pic.twitter.com/bny8dn7vYr

— StatMuse (@statmuse) November 2, 2021

Don’t forget OG Anunoby either. Just as Porter Jr. shouldn’t be written off because of a poor start, Anunoby’s price has lengthened significantly even after dropping 36 on the Knicks. Anunoby has been a popular pick for this award over the last couple of seasons, and he’s taking on an even bigger role with his usage rate jumping from 19.3% to 24.2%. Take out the seven-for-34 in the opening two games and his numbers look great.

If you liked Anunoby and MPJ as options before the season, this could be the time to back them. It’s also possible Morant just runs away with this if he leads the Grizz to the postseason with 28/5/8.

2021-22 NBA Sixth Man of the Year Odds

Herro Earning Hardware in a Rebound Year?

Yet to start a game and averaging 22.4 points per game with 4.4 assists and six rebounds, Tyler Herro is the runaway leader for Sixth Man of the Year with two weeks of the season played. Strong play from Montrezl Harrell on the impressive Wizards has seen his price shorten considerably, too. Cam Reddish has moved into contention, while two popular preseason picks in Jordan Poole and Derrick Rose are out at +3500.

Leaders in bench scoring this season:

– Tyler Herro, 22.0 PPG
– Buddy Hield, 17.3 PPG
– Montrezl Harrell, 16.8 PPG
– Carmelo Anthony, 16.7 PPG

(h/t @BallySportsSW) pic.twitter.com/1XSuljLwW2

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) November 3, 2021

Jordan Clarkson was preseason favorite and won the award last year. He’s been ice-cold from deep thus far, shooting just 20% from beyond the arc. There’s plenty of time to make up for that, though, and with his role unlikely to change on the Jazz, there’s definitely value on him at +1000.

Harrell is worth consideration at that price, too. He’s putting up very similar numbers to when he won Sixth Man of the Year in 2019-20 with the Clippers, and the Wizards are doing a good job of getting him in position to succeed.

The current NBA leader in steals:

Alex Caruso with 1️⃣3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/g4iK0BR6N0

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) October 26, 2021

While this is traditionally skewed towards scorers, it’s worth noting that Alex Caruso is priced at +3500. Caruso has been closing games for the 6-1 Bulls and he’s shooting over 46% from downtown and picking up 2.6 steals in just 27 minutes. There could be value there even if it goes against the usual voting. If the Bulls are a top three seed and Caruso plays this role all year, he’s going to be in the conversation given his importance to their defense.