NBA Award Predictions: MVP, Rookie Of The Year, More Through 2018 All-Star Break

There are clear-cut favorites for most of the NBA’s awards at the 2018 All-Star break. Barring significant injuries, players from the Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Clippers should be among the winners.

Here are predictions for MVP, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and other individual awards for the 2017-2018 NBA season:

MVP: James Harden, Houston Rockets

Everything is set up for Harden to win the award. He’s the best player on the team with the best record, and he leads the NBA in both scoring and PER. Harden has been incredibly efficient from the field with 31.1 points per game on an average of fewer than 21 shots, and only Russell Westbrook has more assists.

Maybe LeBron James will have an even better second half now that he’s surrounded by a much-improved roster, but the NBA’s best player would have to outproduce Harden by a comfortable margin. The Rockets’ guard has been the MVP runner-up in two of the last three years, and this feels like his time to win the award.

Rookie of the Year: Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers

It’s an incredibly tight two-man race between the league’s top first-year players. Simmons leads rookies in both rebounds and assists while ranking second in scoring. Donovan Mitchell has been the 2017 draft class’ top scorer with 19.6 points per game. He’s the No.1 option for the Utah Jazz, who are surprisingly just 1.5 games out of the playoffs.

Simmons has the edge because of his all-around game and the fact that Philadelphia is more likely to make the postseason. Mitchell probably needs to get the Jazz into the playoffs, at the very least, in order to steal enough votes to win.

Defensive Player of the Year: Paul George, Oklahoma City Thunder

This is arguably the most competitive award of the season. Two-time winner Kawhi Leonard isn’t a candidate because he’s barely played, and defending winner Draymond Green might not even be the top candidate on the Golden State Warriors. Kevin Durant will steal votes from his teammate, and Rudy Gobert will find his way onto plenty of ballots. Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid are candidates, as well, ranking among the leaders in blocks.

George might be the frontrunner because of the impact he’s had on his new team. He’s got the individual stats to warrant winning the award—he leads the league with 2.21 steals per game—and Oklahoma City is seventh in defensive efficiency.

Sixth Man of the Year: Lou Williams, Los Angeles Clippers

He plays starters’ minutes, but Williams is the clear favorite since he’s already come off the bench 41 times. He’s 16th in scoring with 23.2 points per game, and his 5.3 assists per contest are more than the averages of All-Star point guards like Kyrie Irving and Goran Dragic. The guard was one of the league’s best players in January with more than 28 points per game, and he’s somehow kept L.A. in the playoff race with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin gone.

Williams won the award in 2015, and last year’s winner is his chief competition. Eric Gordon is averaging 18.5 points per game, though he’s started 24 times because of injuries to Paul and Harden.

Most Improved: Victor Oladipo, Indiana Pacers

The initial consensus was that Indiana got fleeced when they traded George to Oklahoma City in exchange for Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. That idea quickly changed when Oladipo proved he could be a legitimate No.1 scoring option. The guard ranks just outside of the top 10 with 24.4 points per game, increasing his scoring average by 8.5 points and make his first All-Star team. He’s also posting career highs with 5.3 rebounds per game, 48.4 percent field-goal shooting and 38.1 percent shooting from behind the arc.

Kristaps Porzingis was a candidate before the New York Knicks fell apart and he tore his ACL. Kris Dunn could get votes after going from a potential draft bust to averaging 13.5 points and 6.3 assists per game in his first year with the Chicago Bulls. Chicago and New York are already out of the playoff race, and Indiana owns the East’s No.5 seed.

Coach of the Year: Dwane Casey, Toronto Raptors

Maybe the Raptors will have another disappointing playoff run. That shouldn’t hurt Casey in his bid to be recognized as the season’s best head coach. In fact, Toronto’s postseason struggles might work to Casey’s benefit, considering he’s led the same core of players that aren't considered to be a legitimate title contender to the top of the Eastern Conference.

Mike D’Antoni is certainly a candidate with Houston owning the NBA’s best record at the All-Star Break, though Golden State is likely to finish as the No.1 seed. D’Antoni won the award in 2017, which could swing a few votes Casey’s way.