2026-27 NBA Awards odds & predictions: Best bets for MVP, DPOY, and Rookie of the Year
NBA awards won’t be voted on for months, but it seems players, their fans, and their representatives start making their case for their preferred award early into the season.In fact, by the middle of December, the buzz usually starts getting loud for the frontrunners.In an era where odds for the awards are released in the offseason and can shape the public’s view of who the favorites are, it seems like the options for awards are shrinking.Look at the Most Valuable Player race, for example.
Since the 2019-20 season, only four players have won league MVP: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic three times, Joel Embiid, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander twice.Victor Wembanyama is the favorite with +180 odds, with Doncic (+425), Gilgeous-Alexander (+500), Jokic (+550), and Antetokounmpo (12/1) rounding out the top-five.Excluding Embiid, all of those former winners have a case that likely won’t change barring a huge drop-off this season.Jokic is an offense unto himself and makes everyone around him better.Gilgeous-Alexander is the most consistent superstar in the league, and the Thunder look like a 60-win team regardless of who shares the floor with him.
Antetokounmpo, when healthy, is the most unstoppable force in the NBA.The open question entering this season is about the current betting favorite: Will Wembanyama make another leap that pushes past the rest of the field? Based on the history of the award, voters seem to value offense over defense, along with winning when it comes to MVP.Defensively, Wembanyama is clearly the cream of the crop (more on that shortly), but offensively, he has not ascended to the level of players like Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander yet.There are some potential dark horse picks — Anthony Edwards (20/1), Cade Cunningham (25/1), Kawhi Leonard (150/1) — but each player has some red flags that could muddy their case.
This award feels like it’s SGA’s to lose, and while there hasn’t been a three-time winner since Larry Bird in 1986, he is t...