Pelicans: A look back at odds and awards predictions after 20 games

New Orleans Pelicans: Odds for NBA season awards

Trey Murphy III for Most Improved Player

Start of the season: Trey Murphy III +13000

After 20 games: +24000

You can see that TMIII’s odds for Most Improved Player have nearly doubled from the start of the season, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense considering he has doubled nearly all of his stats from last season, is shooting a high percentage and is doing it in a bigger role on a good team.

But he is up against some stiff competition in this one, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is running away with this award and even if he wasn’t Lauri Markkanen and Tyrese Haliburton among others are still ahead of TMIII despite his improvement.

Zion was also listed for this award, which really made no sense at the time and even less now.

Trey Murphy III for 6th Man of the Year

Start of the season: Trey Murphy +5500

After 20 games: +13000

Right now, rookie Bennedict Mathurin is probably the frontrunner for this award, as he has been scoring nearly 20 per game off the bench for Indiana, who are the surprising 4th seed in the Eastern Conference right now.

This award usually goes to a player on a good team, so I do think TMIII has a chance, especially if he can get closer to 16-18 points per game by the end of the season. But that is going to be tough on a team with so many scorers.

If the Pacers were to fall off, and the Pelicans keep winning, Murphy III could get some recognition by the end of the season, but right now is looking like a long shot even though he has gotten a lot better.