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NBA results without Jokic, SGA and Wemby on a roster

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NBA betting forecast – By ASAwins.com

With the NBA season drawing to a close we hear many sports outlets talking about postseason awards and who specifically is going to be MVP. Let me be upfront with this, I am not a Nikola Jokic super-fan, I’m a basketball guy. In my opinion, the NBA in the 80’s and 90’s was the single greatest sport to watch where winning was everything. This ramble or vent is on how little the so called ‘experts’ talk about or support Jokic as the league’s MVP. I’m a realist and a bettor and I know he’s not going to win this season, but the reality is…he’s the most valuable player in the league and it’s not as close as you think. I’ll explain below with a little help from the computers.

Current 2025-26 season records (near the end of the regular season, ~78-79 games played out of 82):

Oklahoma City Thunder: 62-16 (.795)

San Antonio Spurs: 60-19 (.759)

Denver Nuggets: 51-28 (.646)

Key player stats (per game averages and advanced metrics; all data as of the latest available):

Nikola Jokić (DEN)

PPG: 28.0 | RPG: 12.9 | APG: 10.9 | SPG: 1.4 | TOV: 3.8

PER: 32.3 (elite efficiency)

Win Shares (WS): 14.2 (with WS/48 of .315)

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC)

PPG: 31.4 | RPG: 4.4 | APG: 6.5 | SPG: 1.4 | TOV: 2.2

PER: 31.0

Win Shares (WS): 15.0 (league leader, WS/48 of .328)

Victor Wembanyama (SAS)

PPG: 24.8 | RPG: 11.5 | APG: 3.1 | SPG: 1.0 | TOV: 2.4 | BPG: 3.1

PER: 29.5

Win Shares (WS): 9.6 (WS/48 of .254)

Simulation Method – Win Shares (WS) is the most direct metric here for estimating a player’s win contribution. It is built from box-score stats (points, rebounds, assists, steals, turnovers) plus defensive contributions, efficiency adjustments, pace, and team context. It is normalized so a replacement-level player contributes ~0 WS. PER provides supporting context on individual efficiency but is already embedded in the WS calculation. The simulation is straightforward and standard for these hypotheticals:

Estimated wins without the star ≈ current team wins − player’s WS (rounded to nearest whole win).

Losses increase by the same amount to keep total games played the same. This assumes the star’s minutes are filled by replacement-level talent (0 WS contribution). It is an estimate—real basketball has lineup synergies, chemistry, and schedule effects that WS approximates but does not perfectly capture. Remaining games (~3–4) have minimal impact given how close we are to the end of the season.

Estimated Records Without the Star Player

Denver Nuggets without Nikola Jokić: ~37-42
Current: 51-28. Subtract Jokić’s 14.2 WS → ~37 wins (losses rise accordingly).
Jokić’s triple-double-level production, historic efficiency (PER 32.3), and massive WS make him the clear engine. Without him the Nuggets would still be a solid playoff-level team thanks to depth, but they drop from a top-3 West seed to a borderline play-in squad.

Oklahoma City Thunder without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: ~47-31
Current: 62-16. Subtract SGA’s 15.0 WS → ~47 wins.
SGA is the league’s WS leader and an MVP-caliber two-way force. The Thunder have excellent supporting pieces and depth, so they would remain a strong playoff team (likely still a top-4 seed in the West), but they lose their offensive engine and defensive versatility, dropping from historic pace to “very good but not elite.”

San Antonio Spurs without Victor Wembanyama: ~50-29
Current: 60-19. Subtract Wemby’s 9.6 WS → ~50 wins.
Wembanyama’s elite two-way impact (PER 29.5, massive blocks, rebounding, and growing playmaking) is huge, but the Spurs have built real supporting talent around him. Without him they would still contend for a high playoff seed, but they lose the defensive anchor and unique spacing/rim protection that makes their system special.

Bottom line: All three teams would remain competitive without their superstar (thanks to depth and coaching), but each would drop noticeably—most dramatically the Nuggets (Jokić’s WS impact is enormous relative to the team’s margin). These are data-driven estimates grounded in the exact metrics.

There is a good chance Jokic will never win another MVP even if he continues to put up these historical statistics. SGA is going to win again this year, then it will be Wemby for the forseeable future who will probably win multiple years in a row, until the voters get “Wemby-fatigue” and move on from him.

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NBA MVP odds | Longshot Nikola Jokic – Denver Nuggets

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Why Nikola Jokić at +6000 for NBA MVP Is the Sharpest Bet on the Board

As the 2025-26 regular season winds down, the MVP race has a clear favorite in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and serious buzz around Victor Wembanyama. But Nikola Jokić sits at +6000 on most sportsbooks—third in the odds but treated like an afterthought by voters. That number feels like a gift for bettors who actually look at the numbers instead of the narrative.

Let’s run the tape. Jokić is putting up 27.9 points per game (7th in the NBA), but he’s miles ahead of the flashier counting stats that voters love. He leads the league in rebounding at 12.9 RPG—Wembanyama is a distant 5th at 11.4. He’s also No. 1 in assists at 10.8 APG; Shai is back in 18th at 6.5. Both Jokić and Wemby have played 60-61 games. Shai has suited up for 64, yet the Serbian big man still posts the second-best PER in basketball (32.5-32.6 range), trailing only Giannis Antetokounmpo—who’s played just 34-36 games and is effectively out of the conversation.

Jokić is the only player in the top tier doing everything at an elite level. He’s not just scoring—he’s orchestrating the Nuggets’ offense like a point guard in a 7-footer’s body while dominating the glass. Efficiency? Off the charts. Wins above replacement and advanced metrics back it up. Yet the betting market and media have him as a distant long shot behind SGA (31.6 PPG on a presumed top seed) and Wemby (the shiny new superstar on a Spurs team rolling at a .760 clip).

So why the disrespect? Voter fatigue is real. Jokić already has three MVPs. NBA awards historically punish repeat winners once the “new shiny toy” narrative kicks in—see the love for Wemby’s two-way explosion or SGA’s scoring explosion on what looks like the league’s best team. Denver sits at 48-28 with 6 games to play, solid but not the juggernaut OKC or San Antonio have been. Narrative > stats in MVP voting, and the story right now is “SGA carries the No. 1 seed” or “Wemby is the future.” That’s exactly why +6000 is screaming value. Jokić has been the best all-around player in the league again. He leads the NBA in rebounding and assists while posting top-10 scoring on elite efficiency. His PER sits second only to a guy who barely played half a season. If the Nuggets close strong and Jokić keeps triple-double hunting, the advanced-stat crowd (and any voter who actually watches film) will remember who’s been the most valuable night in and night out. At +6000, you’re getting 60-1 implied odds on a player who’s been the best in the league by most objective measures. That’s not a long shot—that’s a mispriced gift. If you’re betting MVP futures, the Joker at plus money this big is the play. The numbers don’t lie. The market just isn’t listening.

We won’t make a large wager on this but will make a small investment instead. It’s not about stats or who is the best player, it’s political and biased and decided by uninformed, biased sports writers.

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NBA prediction Cleveland Cavaliers Eastern Conf Champs +350

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ASA NBA predictionCleveland Cavaliers (+350) to win the Eastern Conference

Cleveland made the biggest splash of any team before the trade deadline, acquiring James Harden from the Clippers in early February. The trade has sparked the Cavs offense who is averaging 130ppg over the first three games that the 11-time All Star has played. Donovan Mitchell is having another All-NBA caliber season and the addition of Harden makes the duo the highest scoring guarding combination in the NBA in terms of ppg. Additionally, backcourt mates Sam Merrill and Jaylon Tyson bring some serious sharpshooting, both top three in three point percentage at a staging 47% on high volumes. Rounding out the frontcourt, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen bring rim protecting length, elite rebounding, and more offense, averaging a combined 32ppg between them. As a cherry on top, Max Strus may be able to make a return before the playoffs after missing all season due to a foot surgery. He averaged 12ppg in the 2025 playoffs. Winners of eleven of the last twelve games, Cleveland sits securely as the four seed while being less than two games behind the Celtics and Knicks for the number two spot in the East. Even more enticing, the Cavs have one of the five easiest strengths of schedules remaining. On the contrary, Boston and New York will have a very difficult road, both encountering a top ten schedule in terms of strength. According to odds makers it is a four team race for who comes out of the East. Boston is +340, Cleveland +350, Detroit +360, and New York is +410. With a race this wide open, the East is ripe for the taking and we think the Cavs have what it takes to make an NBA Finals appearance.    

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NFL News & Notes | Oct 23 2025

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ASA’s NFL News & Notes – Oct 23 2025

CHICAGO BEARS – The Bears topped New Orleans 26-14 on Sunday and have now won 4 straight games.  Believe it or not, that their longest winning streak in 6 years!  How have they done it?  Turnovers.  They have at least 3 takeaways in all 4 of their wins during that stretch and they created 4 takeaways in 3 of those games.  Their turnover margin during their 4 game winning streak is +13 which is insane for that short stretch of time.  In 2 of those wins, Chicago needed a FG as time expired to win vs Washington and they blocked a FG as time expired to win vs Las Vegas.  They were +3 turnovers in both of those games which wouldn’t often come down to last second FG situations for teams with a +3 turnover margin in a game.  They won each of those 2 games by 1 point.  The Bears have now moved into the top spot in the NFL at +11 turnover margin on the season which is 3 better than Jacksonville who sits with the 2nd best mark at +8.    

BALTIMORE RAVENS – We don’t often see teams that have a record of 1-5 favored by nearly a TD over a team that is 4-2.  That’s what we have on Sunday with Baltimore -6.5 at home vs Chicago, who has won 4 straight games.  The expectation is that starting QB Lamar Jackson will be back after missing 3 games with a hamstring injury.  Jackson did not practice on Monday but prior to the bye head coach Jim Harbaugh was anticipating him back for this game.  The Birds were outscored 98-33 in the 3 games Jackson was out.  So, while offense has been an issue, their defense has been really bad as well.  They rank dead last allowing 32 PPG, they are 30th in total defense, and 27th in YPP defense.  For perspective, the Baltimore defense ranked 8th, 8th and 6th last year in those statistics.  They did have a rash of injuries on that side of the ball a few weeks ago and they are getting healthier on defense which should help.  Turnovers have also been an issue.  They have committed 10 turnovers through 6 games after committing 11 the entire season last year. 

NY JETS – Man this Jets offense is bad.  They haven’t reached the endzone since October 5th.  In their last 2 games, they’ve totaled 302 yards on 127 plays which is a terrible 2.37 YPP.  They reached the redzone (opponents 20 yard line or closer) just twice in those 2 games and didn’t score a TD in either.  QB Justin Fields has completed 15 passes in the last 2 games combined and his yards per attempt was just 3.1.  They replaced him with Tyrod Taylor in last week’s loss vs Carolina.  Taylor proceeded to complete 45% of this passes and threw 2 interceptions.  They have not topped 4.6 YPP in 5 of their last 6 games.  The Jets defense hasn’t been much help with 1 takeaway the entire season.  The only winless team in the NFL travels to Cincinnati this weekend where they are a 6.5 point dog vs a team that hasn’t been favored since QB Joe Burrow went on the shelf.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS – We mentioned a few weeks ago in this weekly article that the Jags had been a bit lucky this season.  They were 4-1 at the time, had a negative YPP differential and were living off their turnover margin, which at the time was #1 in the NFL.  They had a +7 turnover margin in their first 4 wins but were outgained on a YPP basis in 3 of those 4 wins.  We felt they their luck was getting ready to run out and we faded Jacksonville each of the last 2 weeks and picked up 2 wins.  In their games vs Seattle and the LA Rams, the turnover margin was even in both games and Jacksonville was outscored 55-19.  After last weekend they now rank 23rd in the NFL in YPP margin.  Coming back from their blowout loss to the Rams in London, they now have this week off before traveling to Las Vegas.

DENVER BRONCOS – The Broncos became the first team in over 1,600 games that trailed by 18 or more with 6:00 minutes or less remaining the won the game.  They didn’t score a point in the first 3 quarters last week vs the Giants and then exploded for 33 points in the 4th quarter!  They scored their final 30 points all in the last 5:15 of the game.  The Broncos were 7 point favorites and led for a grand total of 1 minute and 14 seconds.  Denver is 2nd in the NFL in YPP margin behind only Seattle but their point differential is just +36 (9th in the NFL) despite their 5-2 record.  All of their games with the exception of their big win vs Cincinnati, have come by one score (both wins and losses).    

CLEVELAND BROWNS – The Browns offense broke through for 31 points last week vs Miami.  Prior to that, Cleveland had scored 17 points or less in 11 straight games.  So is the Cleveland offense heading in the right direction after their breakout performance?  We doubt it.  Sure they scored 31 points but they only had 206 total yards and averaged just 3.9 YPP.  They benefitted from 4 Miami turnovers and scored 21 of their 31 points directly off of those turnovers including a pick 6.  Rookie QB Gabriel has done a nice job of protecting the ball in his 3 starts (0 turnovers) but he’s completed less than 60% of his passes in 2 of those games and he’s averaging a paltry 5.1 yards per pass attempt.  The Browns offense still ranks 28th or lower in scoring, total offense, YPP, rushing YPG, and passing YPG.  They head to New England on Sunday to try and win back to back games for the first time since 2023.    

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS – After starting 0-2 with home losses vs LA Chargers and Baltimore, the Chiefs look like they just might be the best team in the NFL right now.  They’ve won 4 of the last 5 and in their 1 loss during that stretch they outgained Jacksonville 7.6 YPP to 5.9 YPP.  A 99 yard pick 6 for the Jags was the difference and even with that they needed a TD in the waning seconds to win by 3 points.  Their 4 wins have come by an average margin of +18.5 points and they’ve outgained their last 5 opponents by over 600 combined yards.  They are now the only team in the NFL that ranks in the top 5 in both total offense and total defense.  Two of their top offensive playmakers returned from injury (Xavier Worthy) and suspension (Rashee Rice) and after a slow start Mahomes has now completed over 70% of his passes over the last 3 games.  On the season he has 14 TD passes and just 2 interceptions and he’s rushed for 250 yards on 6.0 YPC.  The oddsmakers have made the adjustment with KC favored by 10.5 next Monday night vs Washington (who will most likely be without QB Jayden Daniels).

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS – The Pats have quietly put together a 4 game winning streak and have moved to 5-2 on the season.  However, we’re not sure what to think of this team quite yet.  They’ve played the easiest schedule in the NFL to date and on top of that they have the easiest remaining schedule as well.  Of their final 10 games, only 2 opponents currently have a record above .500 (Bucs, and Bils).  Their other 8 remaining opponents have a current combined record of 12-42.  Despite that east schedule, their YPP margin is -0.15 which is 20th in the NFL.  3 of their 5 wins have come against the Titans, Saints, and Dolphins who have a combined record of 3-18.  They have a loss vs Las Vegas who sits at 2-5 on the season.  New England just pushed through their tough scheduling spot (3 straight road games) with wins @ Buffalo, @ New Orleans, and @ Tennessee.  QB Drake Maye has a top 5 QBR and has already thrown 12 TD’s (15 all of last year) and has only 2 interceptions (10 last year).   

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NBA WIN TOTAL BETS | 2025-26 FUTURES

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NBA SEASON LONG WIN TOTAL BETS

LA CLIPPERS OVER 49.5 WINS (-120) – The Clippers are going to be better this season than they were a year ago when they won 50 games. They lost Norman Powell to the Heat but added Bradley Beal, Chris Paul and Brook Lopez. They also get a full year with John Collins in the lineup after trading for him midway through the season last year. The health of aging Kahwi Leonard is always a concern but this deep roster can overcome load management games with some of the vets resting nights. Los Angeles was 6th in average margin of victory last season at +4.7PPG and had the 5th best Efficiency Differential at +4.8. 

MILWAUKEE BUCKS OVER 43.5 WINS (+100) – The one caveat that could derail this season long win total bet is if Giannis Antetokounmpo demands a trade mid-season. The Bucks added a few key pieces in the offseason with Miles Turner, Cole Anthony and Gary Harris along with bringing back Thanasis Antetokounmpo (to appease Giannis). Milwaukee had the 11th best Efficiency Differential in the NBA a year ago at +2.4 and won 48 games. The Eastern Conference is going to be down this season with Super Star players Jayson Tatum (Celtics) and Tyrese Haliburton (Pacers) sidelined. The Bucks have won 44+ games every season dating back to the 2017-18 season. Giannis was a top 3 player last season in Value Index and Usage percentage. If he stays…the Bucks win 50.

TORONTO RAPTORS OVER 39.5 WINS (-110) – The Raptors had the 9th most missed games due to injuries last season and still managed to win 30 games. If this team can remain healthy we like them to get to 40+ wins and make the playoffs as a 6-8 seed. The starting lineup of Quickley, Barrett, Ingram, Barnes and Poeltl is solid. Ingram and Barnes are All-Star caliber players capable of averaging 22+ points per game. 

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS UNDER 47.5 WINS (-122) – The Warriors are obviously a public team and their win total reflects a bump of a few wins making them a value UNDER team. Father time is undefeated and Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and Al Horford aren’t getting any younger. This team was still elite defensively a year ago with the 7th best Defensive Efficiency rating in the regular season, but their offense was average (15th in OEFF). The Warriors won 48 games a year ago but it’s going to be tough to get to that number with this aging roster. And let’s face it, Golden State isn’t concerned about winning the division or the Western Conference, they want to be fresh come playoff time and just have a seat at the table.

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