Are all pencils down? I am sure you see one clear outlier in there, and that is the MVP season for Russell Westbrook. Of course, that was the season in which he averaged Tangent: The funny part is how quickly that mystique faded away.

Russ also averaged a triple-double the next two seasons , with the Thunder finishing with a similar record in both seasons too ; So the one clear trend I see here is, unless a player is going to do something of historical proportions from a statistical perspective, they darn sure better be on an extremely successful regular season team.

That being said, there is one player that is going to get left out pretty easily, and he just so happens to be quite high on the list of favorites.

That guy is Bradley Beal for the Washington Wizards. He averaged the second most points per game in the league last season No one even threw him a bone with a fifth place vote.

Even if Beal remains the alpha on this team in that scenario, the stats probably come down a little and Wall probably gets enough credit to take away some glamour from Beal.

The only path I see to Beal winning MVP is if Wall looks like a shell of himself all year while Beal puts up Harden-like numbers en route to leading the Wizards to a top-four seed in the East.

Well, maybe not in ink like we did with Beal but we might be able to find some guys that we can cross off with a pencil.

On top of that, Harden and Russell Westbrook have already let it be known they want to be traded. The only positive this offseason was that they did pick up a great center for their system in Christian Wood.

Or is Silas going to change things around a bit? Since Silas was with the Dallas Mavericks the past two seasons as an assistant coach which coincided with the first two seasons for Luka Doncic , I am going to guess we see a somewhat similar style of ball-dominance out of Harden.

That remains to be seen. Remember, Harden won his MVP three seasons ago when his His points per game went up the past two seasons and assists slightly down , but the Rockets finished fourth in the West both times.

Since I have a hard time picturing Harden improving statistically, his MVP chances lie in the hands of how many games the Rockets can win. I will say this, though: oddsmakers are certainly doing what they can to lure bettors in.

The Warriors will be without Klay Thompson Achilles tendon , so Curry will have to step up and lead Golden State offensively if they want to mount a serious playoff challenge.

The Lakers duo LeBron James — Anthony Davis will split the responsibility, while load management is a serious problem here, so I would avoid betting on these two guys.

If you want to take a proper risk, Devin Booker is your guy, especially after a spectacular run in the bubble this past regular season.

Previous article UCLA vs. Related Articles. He was the only player aside from Antetokounmpo to receive first place votes in the most recent balloting, and anyone who watched the NBA Finals gained a greater appreciation for just how great this freak of nature is.

The Lakers will retain their core for next season, so James will be back with virtually the same team that just brought Los Angeles a championship for the first time in a decade.

He clearly does. But when you look at guys like Giannis, Curry and Luka, they are in a spot to stand out more and accumulate numbers, and those monster stat lines will put them in a stronger position with voters.

Still, nobody yet knows when exactly the next NBA season will begin, and what changes might come to different teams through trades and free agency.

It gives them a taller ladder to climb. NBA Odds. Both have a deep stable of young, cheap wings to supplement them.

Both play in desirable markets. Players tend to love Atlanta, and Phoenix has gotten in the mix for prime free agents in the past almost nabbing LaMarcus Aldridge in Atlanta has the edge over Phoenix for now based on one thing: flexibility.

The only non-rookie deals on their books for the season are Clint Capela , an easily movable starter, and DeWayne Dedmon , an expiring contract.

If Atlanta chooses not to extend John Collins , it could fairly easily enter free agency with Young, its other youngsters and two max slots.

Giannis surely wouldn't mind bringing a friend to his new home. Phoenix can get to one max slot pretty easily but has little flexibility beyond that.

Both are theoretical trade destinations for another star. But "theoretical" is the best descriptor for either destination, because to this point, neither core has reached the postseason.

Atlanta has a slightly easier path by virtue of playing in the Eastern Conference, but Giannis won't consider either unless the Suns or Hawks take meaningful strides next season.

The onus is on them to do so. Unless either truly pops, both will probably be on the outside looking in, but just as the top tier consists of four teams, so too does this second tier.

The Hawks and Suns already have compelling cases. The teams beyond them do not. The New York market, in itself, is not going to impress Giannis.

What the New York market can do for him as a recruiter? That could be another story. If there is another free agent he is dead-set on playing with, New York, as a city, is more likely to be attractive to that co-star than, say, Milwaukee.

The Knicks have the money to make that work. The Knicks are, mostly, a blank slate. That's their sole appeal, because very little of the current roster fits with Giannis.

RJ Barrett, while theoretically a high-level individual scorer, had an uneven rookie season that included little development as a 3-point shooter.

Mitchell Robinson is never going to shoot outside of the paint. He just broke Wilt Chamberlain's field goal percentage record by exclusively dunking.

The Knicks could draft shooters between now and free agency, but such young players are unlikely to appeal much to veteran stars.

They could trade for another veteran star, but that would deprive them of their cap flexibility. They have a path to Giannis, even if it involves a number of factors well outside of their control.

They should be considered extremely unlikely candidates who are, in truth, at least multiple seasons away from truly appealing to superstars.

No, the current iteration of the Clippers is not going to land Giannis. The Thunder own all of their trade assets, and once they re-sign Montrezl Harrell and Marcus Morris this offseason, they are going to vault into the luxury tax for as long as Kawhi Leonard and Paul George remain.

Those two are the lone reason the Clippers get a listing here. They are both free agents, and if, for whatever unforeseeable reason, they decide to leave?

The Clippers are suddenly in a fairly similar situation to where they were in They'd lack star power, but they'd be one of the smartest organizations in basketball while occupying the NBA's best market.

Assuming they could clear the cap space, superstars would want to play for them. Giannis alone wouldn't replace Leonard and George.

If he could bring a buddy? Now we're talking. But Leonard and George aren't leaving barring something completely unforeseen, so this is likely moot.

We're just being thorough. If the Clippers become a viable destination, Giannis will do his due diligence. The final teams that get a write-up are not truly in the conversation.

They have given no indication that they want to pursue a superstar in , and even if they did their markets make it extremely difficult for them to do so.

No, Giannis probably isn't going to choose to spend his prime in Minnesota, but let's game this out a bit.

New Orleans has a fairly clean long-term cap sheet. Oklahoma City can get there if it trades Paul this offseason. Minnesota wouldn't be able to create max cap space, but with a No.

Minnesota already has perhaps the perfect front-court partner for Giannis in Karl-Anthony Towns. New Orleans and Oklahoma City, replete with assets, could fairly easily trade for a fitting sidekick say, Bradley Beal , if he is available.

All three have attractive young talent. They're all forward-thinking organizations that would properly surround Giannis.

Look, it's not likely, but superstars aren't exactly logical. The world thought Jimmy Butler was crazy for signing with a lottery team. He looks pretty smart now.

If Giannis keys in on Towns as his preferred partner, or decides to join the team that acquires Beal, or even that he just really liked Zion Williamson or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as ill-fitting as either would be.

There's a shred of hope here. When I say shred, I mean something in the neighborhood of 0. When you have the young talent and trade assets these teams have, you get a couple of paragraphs.

That is all. None of them are in the running yet. Some of these teams, like Utah, actually have no method of acquiring Giannis without gutting the team that might attract him in the first place.

Others have paths. If Milwaukee accepts that Giannis is leaving and cooperates on a sign-and-trade, some of these teams have viable offers.

If Giannis wants to play with Jayson Tatum , Boston could gut the roster to accommodate him. Jaylen Brown would be a nice building block for Milwaukee.

So would Michael Porter Jr. But neither the Celtics nor the Nuggets have displayed any interest in going down that path.

They haven't preserved cap space or hoarded trade assets. They'd be interested in Giannis, but they don't seem interested in doing what it takes to get him If he went to either Boston and Denver and said "I want to be here, make it happen," we'd be having a different conversation.

The Rockets are out. They don't have nearly the assets to dump their bad contracts, and Milwaukee would have little interest in what they have.

Portland is in the same boat. CJ McCollum is a nice player, but he'd be nearing 30 by the time this deal would need to happen.

He makes little sense for Milwaukee unless it is determined to continue winning on some level. A Philadelphia deal would be counterproductive.

Giannis would fit as poorly with Ben Simmons or Joel Embiid as they currently fit with one another. Brooklyn would be incredibly fun, but there's just no way Milwaukee would accept Caris LeVert as the centerpiece of such a deal, and it would likely encounter hard-cap issues in a sign-and-trade anyway.

So while some of these destinations could possibly be fits, right now, the actual acquisition process is too difficult to imagine to have them in the running.

When kids want to scare each other, they tell ghost stories. No other team offers that sort of promise. Action Newsletter. If Giannis wants to play Www.Bitpanda Jayson TatumBoston could gut the roster to accommodate him. Binäre Broker Irving. Du kannst dann über den angezeigten Cookie-Banner frei entscheiden, ob Du in Datenverarbeitungen, die bspw. Tobias Harris. Nikola Jokic. So realistically, for the Warriors to land Giannis and Buck And Butler a champion around him, they'd have to avoid that hard cap. The Lakers have been stealthily recruiting Giannis for over a year. They have given no indication that they want to pursue a superstar inand even if they did their markets make it extremely difficult for them to do so. This Aida Casino Menu Rotogrinders. Now he's headed for the Hall of Fame. The question here is fit. They could pursue a sign-and-trade David ThompsonDenver Nuggets. The final teams that get a write-up are not truly in the conversation. Sportwettenanbieter Bonus are dozens of possible Miami salary permutations, and the one it pursues will depend on the coronavirus' impact on the cap. Bob LanierDetroit Pistons. RotoGrinders Interview. Erik Spoelstra will make it work. Andrew Wiggins could serve as matching salary.