As the NBA picks back up in earnest after the All-Star break, the competition for the league's individual awards has taken shape.
With a third of the schedule remaining, we have a good idea now which players will reach the 65-game threshold necessary to win major awards, including Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year. And while there's room for the races to shift between now and April, favorites -- or, in the case of Most Improved Player, co-favorites -- have emerged for each award.
With the help of current odds from ESPN BET and an eye on what advanced statistics tell us about player performance, let's take a closer look at how the races for the NBA's major awards can be expected to play out, including whether Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can unseat three-time winner Nikola Jokic to become the league's MVP.