This guide has the latest odds to win the NBA Most Improved Player of the Year award or NBA MIP award. Expanding on our NBA Futures odds tutorial, we explain how NBA player awards bets work. You’ll also learn how to place a bet on the Most Improved Player of the Year at one of our recommended legal US sports betting sites. Also be sure to review odds for other NBA player awards, too.
The award is officially known as the “National Basketball Association’s Most Improved Player of the Year Award”, meant for up and coming players. This award shouldn’t be confused with the now-defunct “Comeback Player of the Year Award”. Award winners have received the “George Mikan Trophy” since the 2022-23 season.
A preselected group of sportswriters vote on NBA player awards toward the end of the regular season. The award winner is typically announced anywhere from May to June of each year. There is no fixed award announcement date. The award winner usually has their trophy prior to the NBA Finals, regardless of whether or not they are participating in the Playoffs.
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Table of Contents
- MIP Futures Odds
- Most Improved Player of the Year Contenders
- What are NBA Futures?
- How to Bet
- Other NBA Futures Bets
- When to Bet
- Defensive Player of the Year Odds
- Most Improved Player of the Year Odds
- Rookie of the Year Odds
- MIP Futures FAQs
NBA MIP Futures Odds
The following are the latest odds to win the NBA Most Improved Player of the Year Award. One hundred sportswriters from around the world will cast their votes at the conclusion of the regular season prior to the start of the playoffs. The NBA typically announces award winners between May and June each year.
Voters rank-order three candidates for each award. Their first candidate gets 5 points. The second candidate gets 3 points and the third candidate gets 1 point. A third-party agency tallies each candidate’s point totals. The player with the most points wins the award.
Odds for each player will change throughout the regular season depending on their performance and health. SportsBetting3.com updates its futures odds multiple times each week throughout the regular season. Return to this page to keep tabs on the players most likely to win awards.
|
Team |  BetMGM |
|---|---|
| Tyrese Maxey | -1200 Bet |
| Coby White | +650 Bet |
| Jalen Williams | +6600 Bet |
| Jonathan Kuminga | +15000 Bet |
Most Improved Player of the Year Contenders
The Most Improved Player award is not easy to predict, and it is very interesting to see Mikal Bridges, Cade Cunningham, and Tyrese Maxey with the best odds. Sometimes, rookies become sophomores and see an uptick in minutes. Sometimes, they bounce back from injuries. However, that can apply to third-year players as well: Cunningham and Alperen Sengun fit that category, and they should see enough minutes to make an impact.
Likely Winner
Cade Cunningham should be the leader of the pack here. He has encountered injuries before and bounced back from them. After just 12 games played last year, a stress fracture in his left leg ended his season. Cunningham will be back and should be able to lead the Pistons this year, and if they can make the playoffs, he should have a very good chance at the MIP award.
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What are NBA Futures Bets?
A futures bet is placed on the outcome of a distant NBA event. Your bet wins if you chose the correct outcome. You may bet on more than one outcome at once, however the odds for each outcome will likely differ depending on each selection.
Popular NBA futures bets include odds to win the NBA Finals, Eastern and Western Conference winners, and each division winner. Additionally, sports betting sites will have odds to win player awards like the NBA MVP award.
You can place a futures bet up to any point before the actual event begins or the player award is announced. Odds will vary as the season progresses. A team with a strong winning record will gradually become a favorite to win their conference and possibly the NBA Finals. On the other hand, an underperforming player will gradually become a long shot underdog to win the NBA MVP award.
NBA futures odds offer sports bettors two opportunities. One, the chance to bet on a distant event with a potentially higher payoff than any single game bet. Two, insight into which teams or players are likely to come out on top by the end of the season. Whether you actually bet the future or not, the changing odds are a useful datapoint to sharpen your basketball handicapping as the season progresses.
How to Bet on the Most Improved Player of the Year Award
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How to place a bet on the NBA MIP Award
- Review player award futures odds
Review futures odds for the player award. Odds will update throughout the regular season. Votes will be cast at the end of the regular season, with the results announced between May-June each year.
- Each outcome has moneyline odds
Each outcome will have moneyline odds at American sports betting sites. Minus values indicate how much you risk to win $100. Plus values indicate how much you win if you risk $100.
- Make your selection and place your bet
Make one or more selections and bet your desired amount.
- You may place one or more futures bets on the same event
You can place multiple bets on the same event at once or at different times. Simply choose a different outcome and place another wager.
- Your bet wins if you picked the correct outcome
Your bet wins if you picked the correct outcome. Review your sportsbook’s rules to see when a futures bet can be cancelled.
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NBA Futures Bets
The following are the most popular NBA futures bets. These bets are the most commonly placed by recreational and professional bettors alike. Use the odds to guide your handicapping throughout the season.
- NBA Finals
- Eastern Conference
- Western Conference
- NBA Regular Season MVP
- NBA ROY – Rookie of the Year
- NBA MIP – Most Improved Player
- NBA DPOY – Defensive Player of the Year
When to Bet On NBA Player Awards
There’s an art and science to betting NBA futures. The trick is to properly time your bet. You don’t want to bet too early without knowing much about how your team or player will perform. But you also don’t want to bet so late that your selection is an obvious winner with a small return.
A preselected panel of one hundred sportswriters plus an online fan poll will vote on NBA player awards at the conclusion of the regular season. The NBA will reveal the results between May-June.
Unlike team futures that are based on objective performance standards, voting for a player to win an award involves some subjectivity. This is particularly true when three or more players are in close contention to win an award. The final outcome will inevitably demonstrate some biases in those who voted for the winning player.
Unlike the NBA Regular Season MVP award where voters select five candidates, the voting format for the MIP award limits voters to three candidates. The first choice is awarded 5 points, with a decreasing quantity of points awarded to choices two and three. This voting system can potentially produce close results when there are two or more strong candidates for the award. However, it rewards heavy favorites with decisive wins over other candidates.
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Player Award Betting Strategies
Betting NBA player award futures comes with more risk than betting team futures. While teams can compensate for underperforming or injured players with their second and third-string, individual players must remain healthy to be competitive for an award. Unlike teams, individual players have no backup plan. Once injured or sidelined, they will be quickly removed from consideration for a regular season player award.
First, identify three or four players most likely to win a particular award. The players should be high performers, in good health before the season begins, and at reduced risk to get injured during the regular season.
Second, eliminate the least likely players from consideration. Longshots rarely win NBA player awards unless multiple favorites have a terrible regular season. Then, focus on the performance of each player throughout the season, particularly from late January onwards. Sportswriters voting for the awards will be most likely to base their decision on recent performances versus what happened in the early stages of the regular season.
Third, keep tabs on weekly injury reports and starting lineups, carefully monitoring the overall health of each player’s team. The ability of a player to maintain their performance throughout the regular season inevitably relies on the health of their teammates. Note when a coach rests a player against weaker opponents: this may signify the player is nursing an injury, or they’re being saved for more important matchups.
Finally, review historic player award voting trends and biases. Also review articles and interviews from sportswriters and media figures who previously voted for player awards. Try to get a sense of the criteria they used to cast their vote. Knowing how the sportswriters analyzed each player and which characteristics garnered the most attention can help you refine your own selections.
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NBA MIP Futures FAQs
A Most Improved Player of the Year or MIP futures bet is placed on the outcome of the NBA Most Improved Player of the Year award. Your bet wins if you chose the correct outcome. You may bet on more than one outcome at once, however the odds for each outcome will likely differ depending on each selection.
Minus values indicate how much you risk to win $100. Selections with a minus value are considered strong favorites. Plus values indicate how much you win if you risk $100. Selections with plus values are considered underdogs. A selection with the lowest plus odds value among a market with no minus value favorite would be considered a modest underdog to win.
There’s an art and science to betting Most Improved Player of the Year futures. You don’t want to bet too early without knowing much about how your player will perform. But you also don’t want to bet so late that your selection is an obvious winner with a small return. Most importantly, know the award’s historical trends and the typical biases of the sportswriters casting the votes.
NBA Betting Resources
- NBA Betting Guide – Learn how to bet on the NBA with point spreads, totals, moneylines, and exotic bets like parlays, teasers, prop bets and futures.
- NBA Betting Sites – Hoops there it is! Dive into our list of highly recommended NBA betting sites just in time for the next big game.
- NBA Odds – Latest odds for upcoming NBA matchups, including team NBA finals, conference, and division futures.
- NBA Prop Bets – Learn how to bet NBA props. We also have prop betting lines and odds for upcoming NBA matchups.
- NBA Underdogs – Review underdogs point spread and moneyline betting opportunities for upcoming NBA matchups.
- NBA Futures Odds – Review odds for popular NBA futures events, including the NBA Championship, Eastern and Western conference winners, division winners, regular season MVP award, and other player awards.
- NBA Win Total Odds – Review regular season win total lines and odds for each team. Remember to place you bet before each team’s first game of the regular season.
- Undefeated NBA Teams – See which teams are still undefeated in the current regular season.
- NBA Championship Betting – We explain the best bets for the NBA finals, plus you can see the latest NBA Finals futures.
- Eastern Conference Win Totals – Season win totals for every NBA Eastern Conference team.
- Western Conference Win Totals – Win totals for every Western Conference NBA team.
- Halftime Middling – Learn how to make a bet a halftime that can’t lose. We explain how halftime middling can work for NBA and college basketball games.
- Five-Game Rolling Average – Use a team’s five game rolling average stats to sharpen up your handicap analyses and making winning NBA bets.
- NBA Team Betting Odds – Latest odds for each NBA team, including upcoming matchups, futures, and season specials.