2023 NBA Most Improved Player of Year odds: Jazz's Lauri Markkanen appears to have award clinched over Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

There are nine NBA franchises that have never had a player win Most Improved Player, and the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder are two of them. That drought will end for one, however. The Jazz's Lauri Markkanen is now the -425 favorite at DraftKings to win the award with Gilgeous-Alexander at +275 and no one else in the ballpark.

Markkanen was little more than a throw-in this summer when Utah shipped All-Star Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland for Markkanen, Collin Sexton (he was the key young player), Ochai Agbaji and several draft picks or pick swaps. Markkanen was a first-time All-Star this year and is averaging 25.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. He has a chance to be the only player this season to average at least 25 points per game while shooting at least .500 from the field and .400 from beyond the arc.

The Finn is a 7-footer but rarely plays near the basket. In fact, Markkanen's 199 made 3-pointers are an NBA season record for a 7-footer. He had recently missed a handful of games with a hand injury, but played Sunday in Brooklyn and had 23 points and nine rebounds in the 111-110 loss. It's possible that Utah could shut Markkanen down for the final four games this week. The Jazz host the Lakers, Thunder and Nuggets before concluding at the Lakers on Sunday.

Oklahoma City was supposed to be tanking this season yet again, but the All-Star Gilgeous-Alexander has been too good and OKC is in 10th place in the West, holding onto the final play-in spot. In a way it would be a bit disrespectful to give Gilgeous-Alexander this award as he averaged 24.5 points, 5.9 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game last season, but he has taken a leap this year to 31.4 PPG, 5.4 APG and 4.8 RPG. He'll get some down-ballot MVP votes.

The Thunder have three games regular-season left: Tuesday at Golden State, Thursday at Utah and Sunday vs. Memphis. If Gilgeous-Alexander could somehow steal the award, he would be the first Canadian winner of Most Improved Player. Last year's winner was Ja Morant of Memphis. 

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