The NBA Finals MVP award is Jaylen Brown’s to lose.
The Celtics star is -340 to win the award at FanDuel Sportsbook as Boston looks to close out the Mavericks on Friday night.
Brown has been excellent on both sides of the ball through three games, putting him in pole position for the Bill Russell Finals MVP trophy.
He’s averaging a team-high 24.3 points on 55.1 percent shooting with 6.0 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game.
Perhaps his biggest impact has come on the other end, keeping Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving under control as the Celtics’ lead defenders.
Brown is looking to make it two straight series MVP wins after swooping in to steal the Larry Bird Trophy from teammate Jayson Tatum with a fourth-quarter flurry in Game 4 against the Pacers to send the Celtics to the NBA Finals.
Despite his conference finals award win, Brown was a heavy long shot to take home the Finals MVP.
Heading into the series, Tatum was a -120 favorite with Doncic not far behind him at +215, followed by Brown at +600 odds.
Tatum is now the second-favorite (+270), as the Celtics are just one win away from the title, up 3-0.
Should the Mavericks pull off a miracle, Doncic, who has the third-best odds at 29/1, would have to enter the Finals MVP mix, but Dallas is a long way away from having that conversation.
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Brown and the Celtics have brushed off apparent mind games from Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, who called Brown Boston’s “best player” ahead of Game 2, seemingly shading Tatum in the process.
If he holds on, Brown would be the biggest long shot to win the award since Andre Iguodala shocked sports bettors in 2015, winning the Finals MVP for the Warriors with 125/1 pre-series odds.
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