As the 2023-24 season comes to a close, LeBron James will enter his 21st season in the NBA, a pivotal season for the modern-day GOAT and the league around him. How King James and the Lakers perform this season could have a huge impact on the short-term future of the league, so a lot of eyes will be on Hollywood during these 82 games. A whopping 40 Lakers games will be broadcast on national television, so why not take advantage of SuperDraft’s LeBron James player props all season long and throw some money at the King?
We’ll also look at Brown’s MVP odds and whether he has a chance to become the oldest player in NBA history to win the MVP award. Can he meet the minimum 65-game requirement to be eligible for the award?
The Lakers at +1300 to win it all seems a bit far away – the Celtics, Bucks, Nuggets and Suns are already the clear four favorites to win the next Larry O’Brien Trophy team — but LeBron’s MVP odds and SuperDraft player prop market give us the opportunity to bet on his per-game impact during the regular season. Now, That We can fall behind.
Let’s take a look at LeBron’s MVP odds and the odds for three of the top players in the SuperDraft, and explain whether we’re leaning toward or under each.
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LeBron James NBA MVP Odds 2023-24
BetMGM Odds
| player | Odds |
| Nikola Jokic, Nuggets | +450 |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks | +550 |
| Luka Doncic, Mavericks | +600 |
| Jayson Tatum, Celtics | +700 |
| Joel Embiid, 76ers | +800 |
| Kevin Durant, Suns | +1400 |
| Stephen Curry, Warriors | +1400 |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder | +1800 |
| Devin Booker, Suns | +2000 |
| Damian Lillard, Bucks | +3000 |
| Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers | +3000 |
| Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves | +3300 |
| LeBron James, Lakers | +4000 |
We don’t remember LeBron being this low on the preseason MVP odds list. There are a dozen NBA players with worse odds than the modern GOAT, likely due to his age and playing so few games over the past two seasons. The NBA announced this offseason that players must play 65 or more regular-season games to be eligible for the award, and LeBron has not played 65 games in the past three seasons and in four of the past five seasons. .
For this reason alone, we don’t like these odds. The Lakers proved last season that they could enter the playoffs as a low seed and still contend for a championship. Los Angeles has arguably improved this offseason, so we expect Davon Ham and company to follow a similar regular-season blueprint. LeBron doesn’t care about a fifth MVP trophy—he cares about a fifth championship ring. Let the King fade, like he will fade 15-20 games this season.
The best LeBron James bets for 2023-24
Props available in SuperDraft
Average points per game is less than 27.1
The ad about “LeBron and Father Time” is an interesting take on the inevitability – no one over the age of 38 continues to play such offensively dominant minutes on an NBA basketball court. Last season, James suffered a foot injury that prevented the Kings from playing 57 regular-season games for the fourth time in five years. He still finished with an incredible 28.9 points per game, but we expect that average to drop quite significantly this season.
It is worth noting that in the 2019-20 and 20-21 seasons, James averaged 25 points per game, and the Lakers spent their two most successful seasons with him representing the purple and yellow teams. Anthony Davis took on a bigger role, the supporting players around them performed their duties seamlessly, and LeBron’s physical dominance wasn’t always needed to get Los Angeles out of trouble.
We expect a return to that standard this season, with AD at least getting a healthy start to the season and Austin Reaves becoming a true third scoring option. LeBron and AD have also reportedly developed a strong connection with D’Angelo Russell, who can be a lethal knockdown shooter if used the right way. With the addition of some key free agents like Gabe Vincent and Christian Wood, LeBron should be able to focus on playing more games but with less minutes and a lower usage rate.
We expect LeBron to average closer to 24-26 points per game, with slight increases in assists and rebounds. Father Time may not have caught up with the legend just yet, but it all comes down to whether Davenham has more or less season-long responsibility handed to him this season. With an eye on the big picture — the Lakers’ 18th championship — we think Ham will use his superstar talents to back up UNDER here in a big way.
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Averaged over 7.9 rebounds per game
This one is hard, but we tend to lean towards OVER or fade out completely. LeBron has averaged 8.3 and 8.2 rebounds per game the past two seasons, and we don’t think he’ll suddenly drop below 8 in a season where we expect him to shoot and score less. The 21st-century GOAT is always going to have a profound impact on the game in some way, so even if his teammates take more shots, we expect him to break the glass.
It’s also worth noting that Anthony Davis and power forward Jared Vanderbilt often eliminated larger opponents to make it easy for LeBron to get on the floor. This isn’t stat stuffing — it’s just a smart way to get the best playmaker on your team to carry the rock to start the fast break.
LeBron’s lowest rebounding total over the past seven seasons was 7.7 rebounds per game in 2020-21, when he battled injuries throughout the year and played in just 45 games. With LeBron healthy and enjoying a better offensive support system, expect him to average at least eight rebounds per game for the sixth time in eight seasons.
Averaged over 6.9 assists per game
The more we watch LeBron James, the more we think he prefers passing to scoring. Now that he’s the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, he can focus more on moving up the all-time assists list. Now that he’s surrounded by a better offensive supporting cast, there’s no doubt he can move up 0.2 above his 2022 average and hit 7 points per game.
As we’ve said before, the Lakers’ most successful seasons under LeBron were in 2019 and ’20, when Los Angeles won its 17th championship and went on to post a regular-season record of 12 games over .500. LeBron averaged 8.3 assists and 10.2 assists per game in these two seasons. His assist averages over the past two seasons (6.2 and 6.8) match the Lakers’ regular-season win total of 76-88. Davon Ham doesn’t need his 39-year-old “GOAT” to take over games to win it all – he needs that “GOAT” to make everyone around him on the field better. We think that will be the case this season as well, and we’ll increase LeBron’s assists to 7.5 per game.