The NBA off-season has not even been in effect for a month, and yet, I believe I have landed on my 2025 NBA MVP pick.
Assuming he remains healthy throughout the Olympics and next year's regular season, Anthony Edwards will be the 2025 NBA MVP.
Edwards, who currently sits 6th in 2024-25 MVP odds at +1200, has become poised to be one of the premier faces in the association for years to come with his big personality to go along with the raw athleticism that has made him the modern day human highlight reel in the league today.
Although over the past few years, he has been seen as an All-Star level player, it was this past season that Edwards took his game to another level. Edwards led Minnesota, to the three seed in the Western Conference with a record 56-26, as well as in the playoffs, Ant-Man helped the Timberwolves reach the team's first conference finals since 2004 where they ultimately fell short to Luka Doncic, and the Dallas Mavericks.
Heading into the 2024-25 season, the Timberwolves are bringing back essentially the same roster, which should make the Wolves one of the favourites to not only finish with the best record in the West but perhaps even win the Conference come playoff time.
When looking to make an MVP prediction, typically I look for three things that could separate some of the league's best players; a player who will take the regular season seriously, a player who is on a team that can compete for a top seed, and a player who will be able to create a narrative that NBA fans, and media can rally behind.
Edwards falls into all three of these categories, as a young player, he has no interest in "load managing" throughout the regular season and even said that himself.
At the 2023 All-Star Game, Edwards said "All the guys sitting, resting. That's the only thing I probably don't like. Just play, man. If you 80%, you gotta play. I don't like all the sitting, missing games stuff. These people might have enough money to come to one game. And that might be the game they come to and you sitting out".
If Edwards keeps his word and suits up for a majority of the season, Minnesota should win enough games to be fighting for homecourt advantage throughout the post-season, thanks to Edwards likely improving his game once again in his 23-year-old season, to go along with the Timberwolves once again bringing in a strong supporting cast around him.
I am sure they would love it if an American-born player won the MVP for the first since 2018, and in my opinion, the stars are aligning for Anthony Edwards to win his first MVP award in 2025.
Comments