Carmelo’s 6th Man of the Year odds are rising rapidly

Explaining Carmelo Anthony’s recent rise in odds for the Sixth Man of the Year award.

In the blink of an eye, Carmelo Anthony has become one of the most important Los Angeles Lakers this season. Who could’ve predicted his contributions would be this vital? Aside from those who were screaming from the rooftops that the Lakers had formed a Big 4, probably not many. Anthony, in his first season in LA, began his tenure nowhere near the top of the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year race.

His current +1500 odds to win the award are the third-best at Tipico Sportsbook.

What has he done to navigate his name to the top? And how does he keep his name in the discussion come the end of the season? Let me explain.

With so much roster turnover after last season, the Lakers have taken a fair amount of time to get all of their parts functioning correctly. It doesn’t help that LeBron James has already missed multiple games with injury while Russell Westbrook has his highs and lows. So that’s left Anthony Davis to shoulder most of the load, which he’s been decent at. Still, a lot of scraps have been left for other players and Carmelo has been the one to clean up consistently.

In his 19th season, Anthony is averaging his highest points per game (17.6) since his final year in New York despite playing nearly six fewer minutes per contest. He’s also more efficient than ever, shooting 50 percent from the field for the first time ever in his career with a career-best 52.0 percent from three. The crazy part about the efficiency is that the bulk of his offense is coming by way of the jump shot. Anthony is posting his lowest free throw rate (2.1 FTA) since coming into the league but his highest three-point volume (6.8 3PA) in that same time.

A career 35.6 percent three-point shooter almost assuredly won’t shoot 52.0 percent from distance all season long. But if he can maintain his value as a game-changing player off the bench, he could keep his name hot.

The Lakers shouldn’t need Melo to be as good as he has been. In fact, it’s somewhat of a reflection on how poorly everything else has gone this season. As the injured players make their way back to the lineup, I’d expect Carmelo’s production and opportunity to slowly dwindle, but for the better of the team. Such an occasion wouldn’t necessarily be great for his chances at the 6MOY award, however. The recipient is typically a player off the bench with some of the better (scoring) statistics throughout the year, which is why Tyler Herro is currently leading the charge.

There’s still around 85 percent of the season remaining, so there’s a lot that could break one way or the other. Regardless, Melo has had quite the start to the season.

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