Deni Avdija (-120)<\/a><\/p>\nIt\u2019s tough to deny that Avdija\u2019s been cooking this season. His efforts have earned him his first career nod at an All-Star appearance. He\u2019s currently averaging 25.2 PPG, 7.2 RPG, and 6.6 APG as an all-around workhorse for the Trail Blazers. Avdija showed some promise when he first came to Portland in 2024 via the Wizards trading him for Malcolm Brogdon and picks, averaging 16.9 PPG, 7.3 RPG, and 3.9 APG in his first season. He has dramatically improved upon those numbers this season and has helped the Blazers to a 27-29 record in the West.<\/p>\n
Avdija\u2019s usage sits at 28.8% this season and it\u2019s clear the Blazers want the ball in his hands. His free-throw attempts have also doubled since last season, with his additional trips to the line helping stabilize his poor shooting nights. He\u2019s not shy about barreling into contact and finding assists off these drives.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s averaging career highs in PPG, APG, BPG, FT%, FTA, 3PA, and MPG.<\/p>\n
Jalen Johnson (+240)<\/p>\n
Johnson has taken over Atlanta by storm. He\u2019s also earned his first All-Star nod this season with a robust 23.3 PPG, 10.6 RPG, and 8.2 APG. He\u2019s currently fourth in the NBA in APG and his evolution as a playmaking forward is something the Hawks have sorely needed. In fact, Atlanta deemed his newfound playmaking abilities to supersede their need for Trae Young, resulting in their blockbuster trade earlier this season shipping off Young to Washington. <\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s managed to maintain his efficiency from the field (50.2 FG% on the season) while handling increased these offensive responsibilities. While his attention has undoubtedly slipped on the defensive end, befitting most players who see offensive growth of this level, he\u2019s still showing tremendous growth at just 24 years old.<\/p>\n
Jalen\u2019s also likely aware of the parts of his game that needed to improve to suit the modern game. He\u2019s clearly been working on his three ball, upping his attempts to 4.7 3PA this season and increasing his efficiency to 35.3% over last season\u2019s 31.2%. His ability to better space the floor will open up the lane. Furthermore, he\u2019s also getting to the line more frequently, with a career-high 5.6 trips on 77.8 FT%.<\/p>\n
Keyonte George (+800)<\/p>\n
As a career 39.1 FG% shooter before this season, George has turned heads. He\u2019s currently shooting 45.8 FG% on 16.3 FGA. He\u2019s addressed his efficiency issues remarkably well, and watching him increase his shooting efficiency alongside volume has to be reassuring to the Jazz front office. George has enjoyed increased efficiency nearly everywhere: 37.5 3P% over last season\u2019s 34.3%, 51.5 2P% over last season\u2019s 34.3%, and 61.2 TS% over last season\u2019s 53.9%. <\/p>\n
His play may have even ended Utah\u2019s tank, with Danny Ainge making a move for Jaren Jackson Jr. over the trade deadline. The Jazz will boast a long front court next season with Lauri Markkanen, JJJ, and Walker Kessler playing the 3, 4, and 5 respectively. They\u2019ll have a ton of rim protection, scoring, and floor spacing alongside massive defenders to help cover for their back court\u2019s small size.<\/p>\n
George has increased his assists to 6.5 per game and is also taking more trips to the line. He\u2019s shooting 7.1 FTAs per game while sinking 89.4% of them. George is just 22 years old, and at this trajectory, he could be gunning for an All-Star nod soon. <\/p>\n
Nickeil Alexander-Walker (+1000)<\/p>\n
NAW\u2019s improvement this season is obvious, but we have to wonder whether he\u2019s just always been this good. For the first time, NAW is averaging more than 26 MPG for a full season. He\u2019s handling increased responsibilities on both sides of the ball. He went from 9.4 PPG and 2.7 APG last season in Minnesota to 20.1 PPG and 3.7 APG this season on the Hawks. NAW has doubled his attempts from three, now hoisting 8.1 per game and connecting on 37.3% of them, which is respectable. <\/p>\n
Perhaps this is why NAW\u2019s odds here are +1000. Bettors might not put much stock into his MIP case due to his increased minutes explaining his newfound production. And they\u2019d be correct. If we look at his per-36 numbers, it\u2019s clear that he\u2019s not suddenly discovering insane efficiency or adding to his bag at age 27; he\u2019s simply taking more shots. His only per-36 stats that are career highs are PPG and FGA. He\u2019s attempting 17 FGA per 36, and even when he was taking this many shots in his formative years in New Orleans, his efficiency was poor. He\u2019s still not great in that department; NAW is connecting on only 43.3% of his shots from the field, and his case for MIP is largely just a factor of increased shot attempts, and not an actual improvement in any area. While he\u2019s still valuable to Atlanta on the defensive end, it\u2019s reasonable to conclude that he doesn\u2019t have much of an argument for MIP as others on this list do.<\/p>\n
Jalen Duren (+2000)<\/p>\n
Duren\u2019s jump this season feels slightly more candid than NAW\u2019s. He\u2019s handling a larger offensive role and his usage has climbed to 22.3% this season. He\u2019s taken a leap in scoring while maintaining his usual elite rebounding numbers. Duren\u2019s averaging 17.7 PPG and has earned his first All-Star nod. He still has some work to do in terms of rim protection, with just 0.9 BPG, but he\u2019s been a terror on the inside and has been a fearsome duo with Cade Cunningham. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s securing a career-high 3.7 ORPG while shooting 63.1% from the field. He\u2019s also cleaned up his free throws since last season, putting away 73.7% of his shots from the line. Duren is only 22 years old and could still get better in the future, but like NAW, his leap isn\u2019t as tangible as the others on this list.<\/p>\n
The Pick: Deni Avdija (-120)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s close between Avdija and Johnson, but voters may lean one way or the other depending on team record and individual improvement. While both of these players improved since last season, Johnson\u2019s leap was easier to foresee. Johnson was already making an MIP case last season before he suffered a torn labrum and was ruled out of the season, and what we\u2019re seeing out of the Hawks\u2019 star is simply a continuation of last season\u2019s trajectory. You could make the same argument for Avdija, but Deni\u2019s got similarly big counting stats but also the surprise factor. I also don\u2019t mind Keyonte George\u2019s +800 odds, but due to how bad the Jazz have been, that feels unlikely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bill Yin shares a breakdown of the top NBA Most Improved Player favorites with a pick for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,6,687,471,3967,30682,1617],"class_list":["post-608557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-portland-trail-blazers","tag-basketball","tag-blazers","tag-nba","tag-portland","tag-portland-trail-blazers","tag-portlandtrailblazers","tag-rail","tag-trail-blazers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116087698467033181","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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