We’ve already taken a look at the possible assists and rebounds leaders, so now let’s look at the most popular stat: points. While parity may not be something that goes along with this award quite as much as the others, we’re going to take a brief look at the two favorites and quickly analyze any long shots.

KEVIN DURANT (+100)

I would be pretty shocked if Durant didn’t win this award. He’s lead the league in scoring both of the last two seasons and is a clear alpha dog on his team (despite Russell Westbrook’s thoughts otherwise). Even with Westbrook jacking up 30 shots a game, the rest of the Thunder outside of Durant and Westbrook don’t offer much — which means they will both get theirs. It might seem like weak analysis to simply advocate a bet on a clear favorite, but even at such “unrewarding” odds, Durant is really the best bet here.

LEBRON JAMES (+250)

This is the only other guy with a really legit chance to win the award, but the Heat have three talented scorers to the Thunder’s two, and Wade and Bosh will need their touches. I could see LBJ easily winning this award if Wade or Bosh went down with an injury, but I don’t really like to play russian roulette with by betting, so we’ll ignore that possibility. Even at these odds, roughly 2.5 times worse than Durant to win the scoring title, I still don’t see much value in James here.

OTHERS

Derrick Rose (+750) may have won the NBA’s MVP award last season, but it would take another huge leap to take his scoring from 25 a game to the near 30 a game required to win this. I’m not saying that it’s impossible, it’s just highly unlikely. He is my favorite after Durant, though, because Rose clearly has the mindset needed to be the leading scorer and likely will at some point during his career. I just don’t know if it will be this year, for sure. But at +750, one could do a lot worse.

Dwyane Wade (+800) has the talent to do it, but not the situation. Before the arrival of LBJ and Bosh, these odds would have been much closer to LBJ’s current +250, and again, it would take an injury to one of the Heat’s “Big 3” for Wade to win this.

Carmelo Anthony (+650) offers a lot of value. New York runs the kind of offense that will enable Melo to put up huge numbers and he’ll be the focal point, not Amar’e Stoudemire. Anthony has the talent to put up 30 a game, it’s just a matter of whether he can stay focused both on his game and making sure the Knicks have a shot at home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs…