NBA MVP Award odds: Joel Embiid overtakes Nikola Jokic after 51-point game

There’s a new Most Valuable Player award favorite in the NBA. 

After dismantling the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, 76ers center Joel Embiid took over the top spot on FanDuel Sportsbook’s MVP odds board, surpassing Nikola Jokic for the first time this season. 

Embiid, the reigning MVP award winner, dropped 51 points on 17 of 25 shooting with 12 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block during Philadelphia’s 127-113 win over Minnesota, which had the No. 1 defense in the league heading into the game. 

The University of Kansas product is now +175 to repeat as the league’s MVP, edging out Jokic (+300), Luka Doncic (+600), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (+800) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (+1000), who round out the top five. 

Jayson Tatum and De’Aaron Fox, who are both sitting at +2500, are the only other players with odds better than 30/1. 

Embiid is, somehow, having an even better season than he did last year, scoring an NBA-leading 35.1 points per game with 11.8 rebounds per game in just 34.1 minutes per.

Philadelphia is 19-8 (third in the Eastern Conference) with a league-best 11.5 Net Rating, even after trading star guard James Harden earlier this year. 

If he can keep up this torrid pace, Embiid can become the first player since Wilt Chamberlain in 1961-62 to score more points than minutes played in a season.

Importantly, Embiid was the top vote-getter this week in the first edition of ESPN’s Tim Bontemps’ MVP straw poll, which serves as a barometer for who is likely to win the award throughout the season.

He is looking to become just the 14th player in NBA history to win back-to-back MVP awards, joining a list filled with current and future inner-circle Hall of Famers. 

Embiid has likely secured pole position for now, but a couple of key match-ups next month will loom large for his candidacy. 

The Sixers will play Jokic and the Nuggets twice in less than two weeks, Jan. 16 in Philadelphia and Jan. 27 in Denver, which are sure to swing the odds depending on the results.