No second-year NBA player (not even Victor Wembanyama!) deserves the MIP award

Happy Friday, people! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thank you for being with me today. I hope you’ve had a great week so far and have an even better weekend ahead.

As I was doing some preseason research to prepare for the NBA season, I came across something that surprisingly pissed me off a lot.

When I looked at the NBA award favorites this year, I discovered that Victor Wembanyama is rightfully the betting favorite to win the NBA Most Improved Player award this season.

His +725 odds at BetMGM are slightly better than Jalen Williams’s +1000. Everyone on the board except Wembanyama has odds greater than 10:1. But at +725, a bet on Wemby here could give you a solid return. For DPOY it would be a much better choice than Wemby.

I understand the logic behind it. Wembanyama feels he is in for a big season this year. There’s a good chance he’ll become an All-Star for the first time and maybe even make an All-NBA team. He finished second for DPOY last season and will likely be first or second in the prize race again this year. When all that happens, you can easily see why someone would vote him as the NBA’s Most Improved Player.

But if you ask me, there’s no way it should be.

I don’t mean it can’t happen – it absolutely can. I just don’t think it should be that way. Victor Wembanyama has absolutely no business being considered for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award.

See. There’s no question that Wemby should be one of the best players in the NBA when healthy. The boy is fantastic. According to his colleagues, he is already the best defensive player in the league. He has also competed against some of the best players in the league and defeated some of them. Some of the NBA’s biggest stars are in awe of him.

But he’s also only a second-year player. And here’s the thing about second-year players: They shouldn’t even be considered for this award. Particularly when it comes to lottery tips.

The players are expected to improve in their second year. No one expects a player to be as bad or worse than he was in his rookie season when he had no idea how the NBA worked. If that happens, it indicates a problem in that player’s development. Unless? Great. That is self-evident. There should be no reward for this unless the league starts giving out the Sophomore of the Year award.

Victor Wembanyama was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and one of the most hyped No. 1 overall picks of all time. He better improve. That’s why he was drafted where he was and that’s why he has the hype he has.

These are the players for whom the NBA’s Most Improved award was created – the guys who went from tenth man on the bench to starter in one season. Or maybe it’s the guy who was drafted in the middle of the first round and steadily improved but eventually made the big jump to an All-Star level (like Tyrese Maxey!).

This award is not for Wemby. Wemby is named an All-Star so many times we can’t even count. He’s going to be on a lot of All-NBA teams. We should probably expect him to win a few MVPs too. That’s how good the child is.

But most improved? No, man. Light up. Let’s leave this award to the players it’s actually intended for.

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The Clipper curse lives on

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Kawhi Leonard is out indefinitely with a knee injury. We don’t know how long Leonard will be out with his injury or what he will look like when he returns.

What we do know is this: LA’s misfortune here could result in an absolute bargain for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Clippers traded their 2025 first-round pick to the Thunder as part of the Paul George-Shai Gilgeious-Alexander deal (Remember that!?). If the Clippers completely collapse because of this deal, there’s a chance the Thunder could walk away with Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper or another talented prospect. One of the best teams in the NBA has no chance of landing.

Here’s Bryan Kalbrosky with more:

“The worst-case scenario for the Clippers would be that the pick went No. 1 overall and they gave up the rights to Oklahoma City.

This came after the organization had already traded Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and several other extremely valuable draft assets to the Thunder to sign George, who is no longer on the roster.

If that total includes the next No. 1 pick, which will likely be Cooper Flagg in the 2025 NBA Draft, it would be unprecedentedly unfortunate for this franchise.”

What if that happens? Man. Yes, the Clippers really are cursed.

They need to get the Paul George deal done 10 times out of 10 because that’s the only way you’ll get Kawhi Leonard. However, with Gilgeious-Alexander you also lose a potential MVP candidate And now you could trade a top pick to a team already poised to rule the West for the next few years?

Bad luck.

THE MORNING WIN: Ace Bailey, Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper are making college basketball fun again

Shootaround

– Lonzo Ball’s love for LaMelo for his return is so healing. Here’s Bryan again with more.

– Here’s more on the NBA’s second tax loophole and how it’s tearing apart your favorite teams.

— And here’s a rundown of all the key players who changed teams this offseason.

– Speaking of Lonzo, what a debut he had, folks.

That’s it, people! Thank you for reading Layup Lines today. I wish you a fantastic weekend. We are just days away from some meaningful NBA basketball! Let’s make it happen.

Peace.

-Sykes ✌️

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