With a third of the National Basketball Association (NBA) season in the books, the cream of the crop appears to be rising to the top, with regular contenders such as the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks once again in contention.
Boston leads the Eastern Conference, with surprise package the Minnesota Timberwolves – who last made the second round of the postseason in 2003-04 – at the top of the Western Conference.
Despite their performance to date, the Timberwolves are a 12/1 shot to win the Western Conference according to the bookies – seventh in the betting behind the Denver Nuggets (11/5), Phoenix Suns (7/2), Los Angeles Lakers (7/1), Golden State Warriors (10/1), Los Angeles Clippers (10/1) and Dallas Mavericks (12/1).
Golden State, a perennial contender, is currently 11th in the West with a 12-14 record and is relying on the 28 points per game put up by Steph Curry. Should the seven-time NBA champions begin to push their way up the standings, the all-star point guard is 30/1 to take the regular season MVP award.
In the East, it's very much the status quo with 17-time champs Boston, the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Bucks and the Joel Embiid-powered Philadelphia 76ers who sit 1-2-3. The Celtics are priced at 6/4 to win the conference; Milwaukee is 9/5 with the Sixers 6/1.
Cleveland Cavaliers (12/1) and Miami Heat (14/1) are the other two franchises which are somewhat fancied by the bookies. Fourth-placed Orlando Magic are a 50/1 shot to land the Eastern crown - worth a gamble considering their 16-9 start to the season.
Boston is also favoured to win the NBA Finals at 7/2 - despite not winning the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy since 2007-08. The defending champion Denver Nuggets is 4/1 to repeat – with Milwaukee (4/1), Phoenix (7/1), LA Lakers (14/1) and Philadelphia (14/1) also in the top six of the betting.
Switching focus to the MVP race, it's Denver centre Nikola Jokić who leads the way at 2/1. 'The Joker' is 11th in scoring at 27.0 points per game, second in rebounds at 12.4 per game and third in assists at 9.5 per game. He also boasts 10 triple doubles in 2023, five more than his nearest rival Luka Doncic.
Speaking of Doncic, the Mavericks' forward/guard is second in the betting at 15/4. The Slovenian is second in scoring at 32.7 points per game, fourth in assists at 9.1 per game and third in minutes played at 36.8 per game.
Other contenders are 2022 MVP Joel Embiid (4/1) - who leads the league in scoring at 34.2 points per game - and Antetokounmpo (8/1) - who is third in scoring at 31.4 points per outing.
The NBA regular season continues until mid-April 2024, with 81 games per team to be played.
