The NBA's Most Improved Player has become an interesting race in recent seasons.
Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey won the award in 2023-24 after entering the year with +1200 odds. There was an argument that he might have already been too good to win MIP, but his selection followed a familiar formula of recent winners: a good player establishes himself as an All-Star.
Maxey was the fifth consecutive MIP to earn his first All-Star selection in the same season he won the award. Seven of the past eight winners have been first-time All-Stars, with the lone exception being Pascal Siakam, who earned an All-Star nod the year after he won MIP.
Over the last eight seasons, no player older than 26 has won Most Improved Player. But there also hasn't been a second-year player who won the award over that span, either.