Full court press with Liam and Noah Week 3: 24-25 Award Predictions 

Written by Noah Kang and Liam Bekavac, 10/21/2021

With the offseason coming to a close, Noah and Liam share their picks for every major award:

Liam: Jayson Tatum. It should go without saying that the Top 5 Players in the league are Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antentokounpo, and Jayson Tatum. An MVP Argument can be made for every single player but this year I think the MVP Award will go to Jayson Tatum. Tatum made All NBA first team last year putting up averages of 27 point 8 Rebounds and 5  Assists while shooting the most efficiently of his career. Tatum Accomplished all of this on a 64 Win team with the best record in the league. I believe that in the upcoming season every single number I just mentioned will go up. Due to factors like the injury of star center Kristaps Porzingis, Tatum's Rebounds and Points per game should both increase. Tatum already made a jump in the postseason last year regarding his passing ability when he averaged nearly 8 Assists, this is something that I believe he can keep up in the upcoming regular season as he continues to grow as a player. With all of these increased stats and the Celtics still being Dominant as ever I can’t think of a reason that the green Mamba can’t win his first MVP in year 8.

Noah: Luka Doncic. It’s about time Luka Doncic won his first MVP award. Perpetually in the conversation, and the most talented offensive weapon in the league, at 25, Luka has been selected for all-nba first team for the past five years. However, partly due to lack of team success, and partly due to defensive shortcomings, the award has gone to a big man since 2018 (James Harden). Luka has been putting up generational numbers, averaging 34/9/10 on 48% from the field and 38% from three. He has been a consensus top three player for the past three years, and with Joel Embiid’s serious injury woes, Luka Doncic and Jokic are the clear top two players. WHile Jokic could win, there is a certain level of voter fatigue, and Luka’s Mavericks are primed to make another deep playoff push this year, following their finals berth. Thus, this is the best opportunity he is going to get at the award, and I see no reason as to why he would lose it.

Liam & Noah: Victor Wembanyama. We believe that the sophomore “Alien” center should take home this award with ease. He already came second in DPOY voting last year in his rookie season, only narrowly losing to Rudy Gobert who had already won the award 4x and lead the leagues top defensive team in the Minnesota Timberwolves. This year this should be Wemby’s award by a landslide, as Wemby takes another step in his second year, his defense should only take a jump with him. 

Liam: Andrew Nembhard. The second year shooting guard showed a huge flash of scoring talent in the playoffs last year. He nearly single handedly led the team to tough competition against the Boston Celtics in the ECF last year after a Tyrese Haliburton injury. The pacers still ended up being swept by boston but Nembhards ability to show up when it counts made the series 100x closer than it would have been otherwise. The second year guard had multiple 30+ point games and clutch buckets all over. I expect this to keep up in the upcoming season. Maybe not to the extent of 30 point games regularly, but Nembhard should take a jump. 

Noah: Josh Giddey. A restraining order isn't the only thing Giddey's in the conversation for. Namely, Giddey is primed to make a push for the Most Improved player award this year. After a tumultuous season followed by an abysmal postseason in which he was practically unplayable, Josh Giddey was traded to Chicago for Alex caruso. What Giddey lacks in defense, he makes up for in shot creation and versatility, averaging 12/6/5 last season at a 47% clip. However, in a rebuilding Chicago team he is bound to have a large increase in usage, even expected to start. With various young pieces Giddey has all the space he needs to create and run an offense, or at least as a primary ball handler. We know he has talent, and if things go his way, he will have a serious opportunity to put up great numbers this year. Furthermore at only 22 years, it is likely he makes a large jump, the extent of which is yet to be seen.

Liam: Reed Sheppard. When Reed Sheppard was selected 3rd overall in the 2024 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets the pick was met with a lot of questioning initially. In his one year in college at Kentucky Sheppard played at an extremely high level but mostly as a Off-Ball shooter. The Rockets saw the potential and versatility he had beyond his limited role at kentucky. In the summer league he immediately adapted to playing as the primary ball handler, facilitating the offense with beautiful passing, playmaking, and shot creation. He ended the summer league averaging 20 Points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and an impressive 2.7 steals. The player once viewed as a “Plug in” piece instantly proved that he was so much more. Alongside this the Rockets are set up to compete for a spot in the playoffs for the first time with their new young core after losing former MVP James Harden almost 4 years ago. Despite Sheppard coming off the bench for this upcoming season he is more than set up to become the best player out of his class.  

Liam:Donte Divincenzo. After being shockingly traded from the New York Knicks in the closing weeks of the offseason. The veteran shooting guard now finds himself in a new position with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Divincenzo is expected to find himself coming off the bench for the 2024-2025 season as the Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards will be starting at Donte’s position. This sets up Divincenzo strongly to become a leader for the second unit of the Timberwolves. Divincenzo was 3rd in the league in three Pointers made last season, falling only one three behind the superstar Luka Doncic who holds second place. Divincenzo did this while shooting above league average at 41.1%. It’s reasonable to expect Divincenzo to score 13-16 points per game this year while coming off the bench, placing him as one of the favorites to win the Sixth Man of The Year award.

As we enter the 2024-2025 season this Tuesday Lebron James officially enters his 22nd year in the NBA. Since being drafted in 2003 straight out of high school lebron has been a dominant force for all of his 22 years and is showing very few signs of slowing down. Already James is the NBA’s leading All time scorer as the only player to score more than 40,000 Career points and all he continues to do is break records. Lebron is currently under contract with the Los Angeles Lakers for 2 more years, To the end of the 2025-2026 NBA season. Meaning that once he has carried out the end of his current deal he will have played 23 NBA seasons, breaking Vince Carter’s record of 22 seasons. As we get to this point of James’s career where retirement is constantly in the media conversation the question has started to become less of how long he CAN play and how long he WILL. At the moment James is 39 years old and is still an All NBA player and NBA all star. With each year there is a conversation around September with fans trying to predict if this year will finally be “The Fall Off year” and every year James proves his body's superhuman endurance. This leads to the previously discussed question. How long Will lebron continue to play? He’s proven time and time again that he still can play at an elite level despite being well past his athletic prime which leads fans to think he could still play for numerous years. However realistically James will be hanging it up in a relatively short amount of time, potentially once his current contract expires.