The New Orleans Pelicans start their regular season tomorrow with championship aspirations.
With Zion Williamson returning to a team that made the playoffs last season, the Pels are early season darlings of many NBA talking heads, and hope to join the Western Conference elite this season.
If New Orleans can make that leap as a team, it will lead to some All-Star appearances and possibly some individual hardware for their players.
Here are the guys who have listed odds for each NBA season award and which ones are your best value bets.
New Orleans Pelicans: Odds for NBA season awards
MVP
Zion Williamson: +2500
Brandon Ingram: +13000
Zion Williamson has the best MVP odds of any Pelican, and they plummeted by nearly half after his first appearance in the preseason. If Zion stays healthy, he has a chance to get into the discussion, which is why I love this bet at these odds (loved it even more 10 days ago when they were +4000).
The books hedged against a tide of Zion MVP bets, but it is obviously a long shot for a reason, as he not only has to stay healthy, but the team would need to make a big leap, and he would have to beat out the mostly foreign competition for the award.
Brandon Ingram was the only other Pelican listed and he’s being given pretty high odds to win the award even though he is coming off arguably his best season in the NBA.
But it’s hard to see a path for Ingram to win the award, as Zion is going to get the credit if the team takes off this season even though BI was the one who carried them to the playoffs last year.
Ingram is perpetually underrated, so he’d probably have to lead the team in scoring and to a top four seed to be considered for the award. The hype and the odds are with Zion, so he’s the better bet of the two.
New Orleans Pelicans: Odds for NBA season awards
Rookie of the Year
Dyson Daniels: +4000
Daniels certainly doesn’t have the hype that some of the other rookies in his class have, but he does have one advantage, which is that he is the only one of the top guys who is on a good team.
This seemed to matter last season, as voters rewarded Evan Mobley and Scottie Barnes, who were on playoff teams, over Cade Cunningham, who had a bigger role on a bad team.
Daniels could be that guy this year, as he has already shown rotation-ready defense, and may end up with a big role on a playoff team.
It would still be a long shot though, as one of the other guys is inevitably going to have superior scoring numbers and get more attention from the media.
But after seeing Daniels in preseason, I still like this as a long shot bet where a $10 wager (if it is legal where you live) would net you $400.
Defensive Player of the Year
Herb Jones: +4600
Jones’ defense definitely got some buzz last season, especially after the way he played in the playoffs, but he was still left off the All-Defensive teams even though the numbers show he was one of the best wing stoppers in the NBA.
But Jones is not a household name by any means and would have to beat out guys like Rudy Gobert, Giannis Antetokounmpo and others who are much more known around the league.
Those odds are a little low to make this a great value bet, though they are the same as Kawhi Leonard’s. I do think Jones will make the All-Defense team for the first time this season, but he’s probably a year or two away from getting real DPOY consideration.
New Orleans Pelicans: Odds for NBA season awards
Most Improved Player
Zion Williamson: +1800
Jose Alvarado: +11000
Herb Jones: +13000
Trey Murphy III: +13000
First off, putting Zion Williamson on this list is just a clear way to draw bets with a name, as he doesn’t really fit the bill. Zion averaged 27 points and seven rebounds in his last full season, so for him to be the Most Improved he’d basically have to lead the league in scoring and grab 10 boards a game. Not impossible, but he falls into the “Comeback Player of the Year” category far more than Most Improved, as he was already very good, just hurt.
The guy I love for this award is Trey Murphy III, who is going to get increased opportunity, a ton of open shots, and looked fantastic in the preseason. I could easily see him being the first man off the bench and making a huge leap in statistics that will get noticed if the Pelicans are good.
He could potentially triple his scoring output, double his rebounds and be even more efficient from 3-point range this season. I also think he’s going to have some huge games where he hits eight or nine 3-point shots and gets on all of the highlight reels.
TMII as Most Improved Player is a great value bet at +13000 as a $10 bet wins you $1,300, which is not a bad payoff. I love this bet, as if the Pels improve dramatically, someone is going to get rewarded.
6th Man of the Year
Trey Murphy III: +5500
Jose Alvarado: +25000
TMIII is once again the Pelicans’ frontrunner for this award, though I feel the field is a lot more crowded for this one. It is possible that TMIII could make a leap into the Tyler Herro (last year’s 6th Man winner) level as a bench player, but that would be a big leap, as Herro averaged over 20 points per game last season, grabbed five rebounds and added four assists.
It’s hard to see TMIII getting those kinds of numbers next season, but I think him jumping into the 15-18 ppg. territory is very possible, which is why I like him for MIP more than 6th Man this season.