Anyone banking on DeMar DeRozan cooling off in the second half of the season is already in terrible shape.
The first-year Chicago Bulls guard picked up right where he left off before the All-Star break with his streak of seven 35-plus point performances.
DEMAR DEROZAN TIME 🔥 pic.twitter.com/PgZwW607dW
— The Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) February 25, 2022
DeRozan dropped 37 against the Atlanta Hawks Thursday and hit the go-ahead jumper to boot for the top-seeded Bulls.
Naturally, the buzz around DeRozan's case to jump into the MVP conversation started to grow. He was +5000 to win MVP roughly two months ago and +2000 just this past Wednesday.
Consider Thursday's clutch performance a message to the betting markets.
NBA MVP Odds
| Player | Odds |
|---|---|
| Joel Embiid | +135 |
| Nikola Jokic | +250 |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo | +400 |
| Steph Curry | +1000 |
| Ja Morant | +1200 |
| DeMar DeRozan | +1600 |
| Devin Booker | +2500 |
| Luke Doncic | +3300 |
| Kevin Durant | +4000 |
| Chris Paul | +4000 |
| LeBron James | +8000 |
| James Harden | +8000 |
Although the move from 20-1 to 16-1 isn't eye-popping on the surface, this is just simply the best price available. In fact, DeRozan can be found at as low as 10-1 at FanDuel — the fourth-best odds on that board.
DeRozan's been a walking bucket for the top-seeded Bulls. He was averaging 28.1 points per game during the first half of the campaign, while his 1,547 total points were the most in basketball and 72 more than the next-closest player (Trae Young, 1,475).
Michael Jordan owns two of the franchise's longest consecutive game streaks with 35 or more points (10 in 1986, 7 in '88). Wedged in the middle is DeRozan, who's at eight and counting; he's also shot 50% or better from the floor in every contest across that span.
The 32-year-old was +900 to lead the league in scoring by season's end prior to the second half. He's fifth in that category at 28.3 points per game entering the weekend — behind LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid — but leads the league in scoring over his past 15 games with 34.7 PPG over that span.
