How Victor Wembanyama Injury Impacts NBA Odds for Spurs, MVP, DPOY, ROY
On Thursday morning, San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama popped up on the injury report for the team's game against the Phoenix Suns.
Just a few hours later, it was reported the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year will miss the remainder of the season with a blood clot. How will Victor Wembanyama's injury impact the Spurs' odds and the NBA award races?
🚨 How will Victor Wembanyama's injury impact NBA odds?
Last year's No. 1 pick has already begun to live up to the hype as the next face of the NBA by winning Rookie of the Year and making NBA All-Defensive First Team last season. He was putting together an even better campaign this year, earning his first NBA All-Star appearance and becoming the NBA Defensive Player of the Year odds runaway favorite.
However, his injury changes everything ... and not just his own award race. The Spurs were a contender by the NBA Play-In Tournament odds before losing Wemby, and the team had just traded for Sacramento Kings' All-Star De'Aaron Fox.
This injury will have a ripple affect around the NBA and across the futures markets at our NBA betting sites.
📊 Latest NBA odds movement after Victor Wembanyama injury
Clearly, when one of the NBA's biggest stars goes down with a season-ending injury, the ripple effects are felt throughout the league. Here are a few markets that have been impacted by the news that Wembanyama is out for the season:
🏆 Spurs NBA championship odds
Prior to the Wembanyama's injury, the Spurs were one of the biggest long shots by the NBA championship odds (+55000) among teams that actually had a chance of making the playoffs. But those odds should balloon now without Wembanyama.
Even with the 21-year-old star, San Antonio was 12th in the Western Conference with a 23-29 record. The Spurs had to jump the Suns (26-28) and either the Kings (28-27) or the Golden State Warriors (28-27) just to reach the NBA Play-In Tournament.
The Spurs losing Wemby could shorten the championship odds of those other three teams, though, as well as the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves. All of them should have one fewer team to stave off to reach the NBA Play-In Tournament.
- Spurs' NBA championship odds before Wembanyama injury: +55000 via FanDuel
- Spurs' NBA championship odds after Wembanyama injury: +55000 via FanDuel
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📉 Spurs NBA Play-In Tournament odds
Sitting 3.5 games back of the No. 10 seed (Warriors), the Spurs had the seventh-longest NBA Play-In Tournament odds after the All-Star Game in the West. They were unlikely to jump the Suns and one of the Warriors and Kings to qualify for the tournament as a team seeded between No. 7 and No. 10, but this will certainly impact the odds of the teams ahead of San Antonio.
The Warriors and Kings now have just one team to seriously worry about in the Suns. Golden State (-260) and Sacramento (-150) had the second- and third-shortest Play-In Tournament odds in the West before Wemby was ruled out for the season.
Those two teams should both see their odds shorten somewhat drastically now that the Spurs essentially have no shot at catching up. Phoenix (-120) could also see its odds shorten with one less team to worry about.
- Spurs' NBA Play-In Tournament odds pre-Wembanyama injury: +200 via FanDuel
- Spurs' NBA Play-In Tournament odds after Wembanyama injury: Pulled
🏅 NBA MVP odds
While Wembanyama was never really a threat to NBA MVP odds favorite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the second-year Frenchman did have the fourth-shortest odds in this market prior to his injury (+30000).
Before the injury to Wemby, SGA was -440 with Nikola Jokic (+350) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (+12500) being the only players with shorter MVP odds than the Spurs star. Although he was likely never going to surpass Jokic or even Antetokounmpo, the loss of Wemby in the MVP race could shorten those players' odds further.
Every year we see questionable MVP ballots, and now there's one less brand-name superstar to take a vote from SGA and Jokic in an award race that's far from over. If anything, this could help Jokic in his chase for a fourth MVP.
- Victor Wembanyama's MVP odds pre-injury: +30000 via bet365
- Victor Wembanyama's MVP odds after injury: Pulled
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🛑 NBA Defensive Player of the Year odds
No market at our best sports betting sites has been impacted more than this one with Wembanyama trading at -700 to win NBA Defensive Player of the Year before his injury. That was after finishing second to four-time winner Rudy Gobert as a rookie last year.
Wemby was such a lock to bring home DPOY this year that he opened at -180 before living up to the hype with a league-leading 3.8 blocks per game while adding 1.1 steals. He also had more defensive win shares (3.0) pre-injury than the two players trailing him on the oddsboard, Jaren Jackson Jr. (2.5) and Evan Mobley (2.5).
Before Wemby's injury, Jackson was +2000 to win his second DPOY and Mobley was +2200. The board has already seen substantial movement with Jackson now the favorite at -125 and Mobley not far behind at +120. The DPOY race is now one of the most heated of any NBA award.
- Victor Wembanyama's DPOY odds pre-injury: -700 via BetMGM
- Victor Wembanyama's DPOY odds after injury: Pulled
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🌟 NBA Rookie of the Year odds
The Spurs look set to be the first team to have back-to-back NBA Rookie of the Year winners since Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns pulled off the feat for the Minnesota Timberwolves nearly a decade ago.
While Wemby technically has nothing to do with this award race this year after running away with it last year, his loss has already shortened Spurs teammate Stephon Castle's NBA Rookie of the Year odds. The No. 4 pick out of UConn became the favorite two weeks ago thanks to his electric play in February.
A flashy showing during the break also shortened his NBA Rookie of the Year odds after the All-Star Game. Just hours before the Wembanyama injury news, Castle was +120 to win NBA Rookie of the Year, but with his role likely to increase, his odds are now no longer than -160.
While the NBA Defensive Player of the Year odds were the most impacted by the loss of Wemby, the NBA Rookie of the Year odds are clearly the next most affected.
- Stephon Castle's ROY odds pre-Wembanyama injury: +120 via BetMGM
- Stephon Castle's ROY odds after Wembanyama injury: -160 via DraftKings
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