Paul George is going to prove so many doubters wrong this season for the LA Clippers.
Entering the three-day weekend on Friday, I checked WynnBET to see what his odds were for the MVP this year. I figured that he proved that he can take a team on a deep playoff run, with his performance leading the Clips to the Western Conference Finals last year. I also figured that he was once again an All-NBA player, and followed that up in the playoffs by putting up 29.6 points/11 rebounds/5.6 assists/1.4 steals in the postseason after Kawhi Leonard went down.
That, along with him having the chance to develop from standout Head Coach Ty Lue in Year 2 of his tenure with the team would make him an MVP candidate, correct? Apparently, WynnBET doesn’t see it like that.
WynnBET is snubbing Paul George from the MVP conversation as the season is coming up for the LA Clippers.
Paul George is listed as tied with the 14th-best odds to win the NBA MVP with +3000 odds (again, odds were analyzed on Friday, October 8th). He doesn’t even have better odds than his LA Clippers’ teammate, Leonard, despite Leonard likely going to miss at least four months of the year.
He also doesn’t have better odds than Donovan Mitchell (who he just beat in the postseason), and Russell Westbrook (who isn’t even the second-best player on his team).
Jayson Tatum has higher odds than PG13 for the award. Tatum barely squeaked into the playoffs last season in a conference that under-.500 teams can even make it in, he shot worse than PG despite playing against that easier schedule, and is now going through head coaching turnover. How could he be ahead of PG13, who is going to be the number one on a much better team?
Also, Damian Lillard, who hasn’t been able to get out of the first round of the playoffs in three years, is listed eight spots ahead of George. Now, I understand that Lillard hasn’t had a lot of help (or coaching if we’re being honest) recently, but why should he have such a commanding lead over George? To give him +1200 odds and only +3000 for George is ridiculous.
George’s odds shouldn’t be over twice as bad as Lillard’s are. Lillard is nowhere near the defensive player that the four-time All-Defensive selection in George is.
Where George places on this list would be a little more understandable if the odds themselves were closer, but the next-highest players on the list (Tatum, Anthony Davis, and Devin Booker) have significantly better odds at +2250. There should not be this big of a difference when Davis has major durability issues and Booker isn’t as proven as George on both ends.
PG continues to be one of the most disrespected players in the game, and hopefully it fuels him to prove his haters wrong again this season.