Darkhorse NBA MVP candidates for the 2024-25 season

Donovan Mitchell 

Mitchell is one of the most exciting playmakers in the NBA and could have an outside chance at winning the MVP award in 2024-25. It’ll likely take better play from the Cavaliers as a whole, but they have a nice core in place and a new head coach, Kenny Atkinson, who could open up the offense even further for Mitchell. Last season, the 6-foot-3 guard averaged 26.6 points, 6.1 assists and 5.1 rebounds, and put up multiple 40-point efforts, including a 50-point game in the playoffs. It’ll probably take more of that to put Mitchell, who enters the year with +10000 MVP odds, squarely in the conversation for the award, but he has proven capable of hot stretches before. Further consistency while leading Cleveland toward the top of the East standings would likely lead many voters to take notice of the 28-year-old star guard.