Written By Nick Crain | Last Updated at October 30, 2025
The San Antonio Spurs have been the biggest surprise team of the NBA season thus far. Victor Wembanyama’s emergence has been nothing short of spectacular as he looks to win the MVP award this season — an award that nearly every analyst believes he’ll win at some point. But to do it this season, this early, and also elevate his team in the process, is impressive.
In terms of lines moving and odds changing, the Spurs are all the talk right now. Wembanyama has moved the Spurs’ championship odds from +6600 in mid-September to now +3000, per BetMGM.
And in the MVP race, Wembanyama has been the biggest riser. He’s currently listed at +250, tied with reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the favorite. Preseason, he was +1400, so he’s surged all the way up the board in a short time.
Not only is Wembanyama the biggest line mover personally in the MVP market, but he’s also established himself as a true do-it-all, two-way player with the potential to average 30 points per game this season while also being the best defensive player in the league by a wide margin — all at age 21.
He doesn’t turn 22 until January of 2026. What makes it even more impressive is that he’s not just putting up stats, he’s making his team better. That’s what really matters in the MVP race. It’s all about being valuable in the sense that your team wins because of you. San Antonio has been picked to win and cover spreads in many of their games this season, which hasn’t been the case in recent years.
The Spurs started the season undefeated through the first week, looking like one of the best teams in the Western Conference at 4-0. In fact, with a victory on Thursday night over the Miami Heat, the Spurs will have won their first five games of a season for the first time in franchise history. And we’re talking about the most successful franchise in recent history.
And there’s a real chance that not only will Wembanyama soon take over as the outright MVP favorite if he keeps playing like this, but that he’ll continue to increase the Spurs’ chances of making noise in the playoffs. It’s been a phenomenal start for both Wembanyama and the Spurs.
From a betting perspective, if you grabbed Wembanyama MVP or the Spurs to win it all before the season, you’re sitting on tremendous value right now because those odds have shifted dramatically. And honestly, there may still be value in taking Wembanyama even now. He’s tied with Gilgeous-Alexander in MVP odds and he’s made all this movement for himself and his team in just four regular season games.
We’re still in just the second week of the season, so imagine what he could do the rest of the way.
As for the Spurs’ title hopes, it’s still a longer shot. There are more experienced teams with deeper rosters, but San Antonio hasn’t yet had De’Aaron Fox, who’s been out with injury, and they have the assets to make a trade deadline move if they decide they’re good enough with Wembanyama to make a serious push. This roster could look completely different come playoff time.
For those reasons, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to consider the Spurs even after their recent surge in odds. And again for Wembanyama, if you believe he’ll stay healthy and play at least 65 games — the requirement to qualify for NBA awards — there’s still real betting value, even if you missed the huge preseason MVP number.
Mandatory Photo Credit: Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images
