With the new NBA season baring down on us by the day, the Bet Deluxe team has gone through the contenders from a Championship and MVP perspective.
We analyse the markets and go through the teams and players you need to know about heading into the 2021/22 season beginning in October.
Milwaukee Bucks
NBA championship
The reigning NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks will be the focus of punters heading into this new season.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was prolific last season as he led his Bucks to an incredible NBA Championship victory over Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals.
“The Greek Freak” played 61 games and averaged 28.1 points, 11 rebounds and 5.9 assists.
His presence will be felt yet again by the Bucks with his partner in crime Khris Middleton by his side.
Suggested Bet: Milwaukee Bucks NBA Championship winner at $9.5
Brooklyn Nets
NBA championship
If not for injury, Brooklyn may have very well won the NBA Championship.
It was not to be for the team with the deadly trio of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden as the three stars rarely found a patch where all three were fit and in form.
A change of fortune on the injury front for the best offensive team in the league might just be the catalyst it needs to go all the way in 2021/22.
Steve Nash is a relatively inexperienced coach and would have learnt a lot from last season.
Suggested Bet: Brooklyn Nets NBA Championship winner at $3.5
Los Angeles Lakers
NBA championship
Los Angeles Lakers, much like Brooklyn, suffered a spate of injuries to star players which effectively derailed its season heading into playoffs.
Franchise stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis both went down with various injuries at different stages of the 2020/21 season and missed large chunks of the year.
The Lakers still did a great job on offence and defence to hang on for as long as it did without their star influence.
James and Davis are not getting any young, but an injury-free year and the signings of Russell Westbrook, Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore and Wayne Ellington, along with players such as Carmelo Anthony, Kendrick Nunn and Malik Monk will have this Lakers side contending yet again.
Suggested Bet: Los Angeles Lakers NBA Championship winner at $4.5
Luka Doncic
NBA mvp
The 22-year-old star from Slovenia that is Luka Doncic produced a career best season in 2020/21.
The Dallas Mavericks guard entered into only his third NBA campaign last year and lit up the parquet courts around the league.
He would finish off with season averages of 27.7 points, 8.6 assists and eight rebounds a game.
The scary thing about Doncic is that he is yet to reach his ceiling.
The number three pick of the 2018 NBA draft has continued to improve from season to season and if his trajectory is anything to go by, he is set to eclipse his brilliant 2020/21 season.
Suggested Bet: Luka Doncic MVP at $4.5
Stephen Curry
NBA mvp
Stephen Curry led the NBA for points scored with 2,015 points equating to an average of 32 points per game.
The Golden State Warriors’ veteran guard scored over 40 points 11 times last season as he nearly single-handedly took a young, inexperienced team all the way to playoffs.
He did suffer a few niggling injuries throughout the year which may have cost him the MVP in the end, but with a better team around him this year he will be a strong winning hope again.
Suggested Bet: Stephen Curry MVP at $7
Kevin Durant
NBA mvp
Kevin Durant will look to build on a crazy NBA playoffs series which saw him average 34.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.5 steals per game.
He will carry that momentum into a new season for Brooklyn and will go mighty close to winning the MVP if he does not have recurrence of the hamstring strains that plagued his regular 2020/21 campaign.
He is almost impossible to guard when he gets his shooting game going as we have become so accustom to seeing over the last decade.
With James Harden and Kyrie Irving feeding him the ball, the 32-year-old has another season to validate his claim as the best player in the NBA.
Suggested Bet: Kevin Durant MVP at $9
Joel Embiid
NBA mvp
There is a saying that you do not have to be dead to be stiff.
That was probably the case for Joel Embiid and missing out on the NBA MVP award last season after a producing a stunning set of numbers for Philadelphia last season.
From a points perspective, it was his best ever season with an average of 28.5 points per game being the best numbers he has ever posted.
The only real knock on his season was the fact his rebounds per game dropped off from previous years, but he still managed 10.6 rebounds per match.
If he can pick stay fir and push towards that season 2018-19 average of 13.6 rebounds per game then he is in serious contention to go one better than last year.
Suggested Bet: Joel Embiid MVP winner at $12
