Betting: Is there value in Embiid for MVP?

Mark Drumheller joins Minty Bets to give his pick on who should win NBA MVP between Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid.

Video Transcript

MINTY BETS: I'm Minty Bets, joined by Yahoo's very own Mark Drumheller, talking NBA MVP. Mark, Nikola Jokic is currently the betting favorite to win his third straight MVP award at minus 300, but up next on the board is Joel Embiid at plus 400. Do you think there's any value betting on Embiid to win this? Or do you think the wise bet is going to be on Jokic?

MARK DRUMHELLER: I would go with the favorite here, Minty. Embiid has been amazing, 41 and 12 against Boston, and is leading the NBA in scoring. And plus he's been doing it all on a bad foot. And I think that's the key when we try and project his ability to close the gap on Jokic. The Sixers have one of the toughest schedules in the NBA to finish up the year. They play Boston, they go to Milwaukee twice, Phoenix, and then at Denver against Jokic on his home court.

And I think when you look at the Sixers, they're a team that really needs to start focusing on the playoffs. So with Embiid with a bad foot, I really think we're going to see him get some rest towards the end of the season, get geared up for the postseason, as they try and finally get through the second round of the playoffs.

So when we look at the odds here, I think getting Jokic at minus 300 makes a ton of sense. They did the straw poll. He received 77% of the first-place votes. So I really think that he's going to be the winner here, and the Sixers are going to prioritize the playoffs over this MVP race.

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