Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James (23) drives around Orlando Magic's Wes Iwundu, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo John Raoux | Associated Press
NBA

In the NBA MVP race, LeBron James is starting to look pretty good at 7-to-1

Mike Kern

Here’s an idle thought that I wanted to throw out there. LeBron James is around 7-1 to win the NBA’s MVP award that many people had assumed Giannis the Greek Freak was going to capture for the second straight season.

And he still well might, since he remains the favorite.

But LeBron is coming up strong on the outside. He might end up only running second, which at 35 would still be something special. But what if maybe the Lakers actually catch the Bucks for best record, in a much tougher conference? And what if that supposedly minor knee injury either keeps Giannis (I’m sorry I still can’t spell or pronounce his last name) out or limits his stat lines during this last 20 percent of the journey. Just speculating, but I think tossing a little something on LeBron at that price could be a wise move. And if he finishes runner up, you don’t have to risk that much to get back a nice payoff. And it’ll give you something else to root for before the playoffs start. Nothing wrong with that.

Again, I think right now the vote is going to be a lot closer than a lot of folks figured even a few weeks back. Try to make the odds work in your favor.

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