NBA Most Improved Player Odds

NBA Finals and Conference futures get most of the attention, but many of the best sportsbooks have player prop futures as well, including NBA Most Improved Player odds 2025-26.

Throughout this article, we will provide the current NBA Most Improved Player odds, explain the process in which the award is determined, and look at historical winners of the award. We will even have a section that breaks down the NBA Most Improved Player candidates and has an analysis of the chances of many different players. If you have an interest in betting on the NBA Most Improved Player odds, keep reading this guide.

Current NBA Most Improved Player 2025-26 Odds

The table below shows the current NBA Most Improved Player odds for the upcoming season, courtesy of a combination of the top NBA betting sites in America. There are several NBA Most Improved Player candidates listed, but we have just the top ten for the sake of this section.

🏀 Betting on NBA Most Improved Player Futures

In the last section, we used NBA Most Improved Player odds 2025-26 from all the major sportsbooks so that you can lock in the best price for NBA Most Improved Player betting odds. By comparing the odds at different sportsbooks, you’ll likely find that the NBA Most Improved Player favorites will differ. 

In the table below, we’ve provided our top five options of places for NBA Most Improved Player betting. Each sportsbook also has an exciting offer for new customers that can be claimed through the corresponding link.

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🏟️ NBA Most Improved Player Candidates for 2025-26: Who are the Favorites?

In an upcoming section, we will explain how the NBA Most Improved Player Award is determined but for now, it’s just important to know that the award is subjective. It is not like other futures where there is a game that determines the winner. It’s very likely that many NBA players will improve from last season, but picking who improved the most can be difficult.

In this section, we will provide some thoughts on a few of the NBA Most Improved candidates. As you can see from the list of NBA Most Improved Player odds for 2025-26, there is not a single player with odds of less than 14/1 to win the award. However, we will consider the NBA Most Improved Player favorites to be Deni Avdija, Andrew Nembhard and Ausar Thompson.

Deni Avdija NBA Most Improved Player Odds (+1400)

The Portland Trail Blazers Deni Avdija currently has +1400 odds at Caesars Sportsbook to win the NBA Most Improved Player in 2025-26. The 2025-26 season is Avdija’s sixth year in the NBA, and after four years without notable numbers, his stats have taken a jump the past two seasons. In 2024-25, Avdija averaged 16.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.0 steals, which were all career highs. If he takes another leap this season in Portland, he’ll be right in the mix to win the NBA Most Improved Player award.

Andrew Nembhard NBA Most Improved Player Odds (+1400)

Andrew Nembhard from the Indiana Pacers has identical +1400 odds to win the NBA Most Improved Player in 2025-26 at BetMGM Sportsbook. Like Avdija, Nembhard set career highs in points (10.0), rebounds (3.3), assists (5.0) and steals (1.2) per game in the 2024-25 season. The Gonzaga product was a major contributor to the Pacers’ NBA Finals run last season, as he was an absolute pest on the defensive side of the ball. If he can improve his offensive output in Tyrese Haliburton’s absence (torn Achilles), he will have a great chance to cash in on his NBA Most Improved Player odds in 2025-26.

Ausar Thompson NBA Most Improved Player Odds (+2000)

Ausar Thompson is the final member of our list, and the Detroit Pistons guard has +2000 odds to win the NBA Most Improved Player in 2025-26 at FanDuel Sportsbook. Thompson was important for the Pistons last year, as he put up 10.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals in his second season. If he can improve his 3-point shooting (22.4%), he could see a major jump in these numbers. Thompson is an athletic freak and monster on the defensive side of the ball, so all he needs to do is improve his offense, and he’ll have a great shot at winning the NBA Most Improved Player in 2025-26.

NBA Most Improved Player Predictions: Who Will Win in 2025-26?

We have mentioned a few times now that the NBA Most Improved Player favorites are certainly not locks to win the award. No players have NBA Most Improved Player odds in 2025-26 of less than +1400, which means there are many NBA Most Improved Player candidates capable of winning the award. However, I’ll be targeting Andrew Nembhard.

I already discussed how his defensive ability was a major factor towards the Pacers’ playoff surge, but he now has a great opportunity to contribute on offense since Tyrese Haliburton will miss the majority if not all of the 2025-26 season. He will own the majority of point guard duties, so his assists should increase. If he can pair that with increased scoring, I love he’s chances of winning, and I’ll be backing his NBA Most Improved Player odds in 2025-26 at +1400 on DraftKings Sportsbook.

👀 NBA Most Improved Player 2025-26: Longshot Candidates to Watch

The NBA Most Improved Player futures market is a great opportunity to bet on a few longshot candidates to win the award. There are no clear-cut favorites, which means there are several good choices for long shots. 

Among the NBA Most Improved Player candidates is Stephon Castle of the San Antonio Spurs. As the 2024 #4 draft pick, Castle’s NBA Most Improved Player odds in 2025-26 are +4500 at bet365 Sportsbook. The UConn product won the 2024-25 NBA Rookie of the Year, but he only averaged 14.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 0.9 steals while shooting 42.8% from the field and 28.5% from three. If he becomes a major offensive contributor for the Spurs, especially with Chris Paul out of the picture, Castle has a great chance of winning the NBA Most Improved Player in 2025-26.

🤔 How we Make our NBA Most Improved Player 2025-26 Predictions

As mentioned a few times now, predicting the NBA Most Improved Player winner is very challenging. Many players will improve from year to year, but projecting which player will improve the most is hard to do. For our analysis of the NBA Most Improved Player odds, we used a few components to make our 2025-26 NBA Most Improved Player predictions.

First, we want to consider the age of the player. It’s unlikely that a player with many NBA games played already will improve enough to win the award. It’s also important to consider how much room there is for the player to improve. For example, a player who already averaged 25 points per game seems unlikely to win the Most Improved Player Award. Lastly, we like to look at potential increases in usage that could allow the stats of the player to improve significantly. For example, Jordan Poole is going from a situation in which he was a part-time starter to one in which he is one of the primary offensive players. Steph Curry averaged close to 30 points per game last season, which means Poole should have a larger role this year in Washington.

📱 How the NBA Most Improved Player is Decided

By definition, the NBA Most Improved Player award is given to the player who has shown the most progress during the regular season compared to previous seasons. The award has been given out in every season since 1985-86. A panel of sportswriters from the US and Canada cast votes for first, second, and third place to help determine the winner of the award. Each first-place vote is worth five points, a second-place vote is worth three points, and the third-place vote is worth one point. The player that receives the highest total number of points is the winner of the NBA Most Improved Player award.

📊 Trends & Statistics for the NBA Most Improved Player

As mentioned several times now, picking a winner from the NBA Most Improved Player odds in 2025-26 is very difficult because of the subjectivity of the award. The award is determined not by a specific formula, but simply by a group of sportswriters voting on which player they believe improved the most.

However, there may be a trend that is emerging when making NBA Most Improved Player predictions. In three of the last four seasons, the winner of the Most Improved Player was a guard. Additionally, a center hasn’t won the award in each of the last 10 seasons. Therefore, I’d recommend backing a guard or forward who can take on more responsibility in the upcoming season.

🙂 Teams With the Most NBA Most Improved Player Winners

🙁 Teams With Zero NBA Most Improved Player Winner

• Boston Celtics
• Brooklyn Nets
• Charlotte Hornets
• Cleveland Cavaliers
• Dallas Mavericks
• Detroit Pistons
• Los Angeles Lakers
• Sacramento Kings

🏆 Past 10 Winners of NBA Most Improved Player

Typically the Most Improved Player award goes to a member of a team with a winning record, but that is not a requirement. Just last season, the award went to the Atlanta Hawks Dyson Daniels, who finished with a 37-45 record.

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