With the 2025 NBA preseason in full swing, oddsmakers in Vegas are gearing up in parallel with the players. Not one, not two, but five of the Portland Trail Blazers' potential starters are poised to take a major leap if these odds are any indication.
According to DraftKings Sportsbook, Deni Avdija has the fourth-best odds to win the Most Improved Player award at +1700, followed by Shaedon Sharpe at +3000, Scoot Henderson at +4000, and +5000 for both Toumani Camara and Donovan Clingan.
Signs point toward breakout seasons for Blazers starters
The chatter for all five players has been extremely positive throughout training camp and Media Day, with a noticeably slimmer Clingan telling the press that he spent a lot of time working on his conditioning and stamina. Sharpe has looked especially noteworthy at training camp, lifting the arc of his somewhat flat three-point shot and showing some promise on the defensive end.
Avdija, fresh off his Eurobasket play, has made note of his biggest weakness and has vowed to correct it, saying that his downhill approach makes his game easier to track. His offseason improvement regimen concerns his ability to change speeds at will in transition, an element that will play off Portland's youth movement.
Futures bets are divided into two sections: player futures and team futures. Team futures deal with what teams will win the title, NBA Cup, and other things of that nature. Player futures are concerned with which players will win which individual awards. Betting odds use a somewhat unconventional formatting unique to American gambling. A minus symbol in front of a player's given odds denotes the amount of money one would need to bet to guarantee a $100 win. For example, Cooper Flagg's Rookie of the Year odds are set by DraftKings at -175; a bettor would have to wager $175 to win $100.
Camara and Clingan are both mentioned in the Defensive Player of the Year odds shortlist, at +8000 and +10000, respectively, making them longshot picks at 11th and 12th best odds. Yang Hansen is listed at +4000 for Rookie of the Year betting, which is good for the eighth-lowest odds among freshmen.
While the training camp buzz and betting odds are encouraging, preseason gives us the first glimpse of whether these breakout seasons will materialize. Portland's preseason action begins October 8 against the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco; the home preseason opener is on October 10 against the Sacramento Kings.