Quarter Season NBA Awards Predictions

Most NBA teams have played one quarter of their 82 regular season games, which makes this a perfect time to give our quarter season picks for the five major player awards. Think of these as who we will think will win, ie. who you should bet on, instead of who would win if the season ended today.

Luka Doncic (+270)

Luka leads the league with 33.4 points per game and is averaging more than 8 rebounds and assists per game. The biggest improvement in his game has come from his shooting, where he has jumped from 45.7% to 50.4%. We told you to make this bet in the preseason, and you should have listened. His odds have fallen from +350 to +270.

Paolo Banchero (-360)

Banchero is averaging 23 and 8 as a rookie. Here is the complete list of players who have averaged 23 since Michael Jordan came into the league (Jordan averaged 28.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists, as a rookie):

Allen Iverson (1996-97)

Shaquille O’Neal (1992-93)

David Robinson (1989-90)

Michael Jordan (1984-85)

Giannis Antetokounmpo (+350)

Giannis won the 2019-20 DPOY and it feels like his season to win again. He needs to keep his blocks above one per game and ideally get his steals above one, but his on/off stats are through the roof and he has no obvious competition. 

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (-135)

SGA is already a massive favorite for this award; besides him only Lauri Markkanen and Tyrese Haliburton have odds below +2100. Why SGA? He is third in the league in scoring, up 12 points(!) from his career average of 19.1. He is also averaging career highs in assists (6.2), blocks (1.3), steals (1.7), and field goal percentage (51.5%). 

Christian Wood (+700)

Russell Westbrook is actually the odds-on favorite right now but you can’t convince us that a guy scoring an inefficient 14 points per game for a non-playoff team is going to get awards consideration in April. Christian Wood is averaging a 17 and 7.6 for a playoff team and hasn’t started once yet this season. His biggest obstacle towards winning this award is staying on the bench.