NBA Finals MVP 2023: Caleb Martin odds, stats, path to award ahead of series

The 2023 NBA Finals are here, and the Denver Nuggets will square off against the Miami Heat in a Finals matchup that few saw coming. Game 1 will tip from Ball Arena in Denver Thursday. The Miami Heat have become the first team from the play-in tournament to reach the NBA Finals.

We're going to break down the prominent players in this series on both teams and look at how they'll impact the matchup. Here's a look at Heat forward Caleb Martin.

Caleb Martin 2023 NBA playoffs overview

Postseason stats: 14.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.7 apg, 56.6 FG%, 43.8 3p%

Martin played extremely well for the Heat during the Eastern Conference Finals. In fact, a strong case can be made that he should have won the Eastern Conference Finals MVP over Jimmy Butler. Martin had 21 points and 12 rebounds in the heartbreaking loss in Game 6. He followed that up in Game 7 with 26 points and 10 rebounds. It seems like every time the Celtics tried to go on a run, Martin was right there with an answer.

Odds entering NBA Finals (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Finals MVP: +4000
Scoring leader: +3500
Rebounding leader: N/A
Assists leader: N/A
3PM leader: +900

How Caleb Martin can win Finals MVP

It's unlikely that Martin will win Finals MVP, especially if his performance in the Eastern Conference Finals didn't win him series MVP. However, in order for him to win it, he will need to either lead the team in scoring or have a huge impact defensively on Jamal Murray. If there were an example for Martin to follow, it would be Warriors forward Andre Iguodala, who won in 2015 after his defensive performance against Lebron James. Iguodala averaged 16.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg, and 4.0 apg. If Martin has a similar number and better and Butler's play slips below average, we could see it happen as long as Miami still wins the series.

  
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