Consider This NBA MVP Deep Sleeper Pick

So apparently, digging to find just a "regular" sleeper in the NBA MVP market isn't enough. I've already looked at the potential value of some names that are +5000 odds or longer, and even made a case LeBron James to defy the odds at +2500, but apparently, that's not enough.

Now, the powers that be want a deep sleeper, and we can't go shorter than +8000.

I'm convinced my bosses just want to turn me into a real-life version of the Charlie meme from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia at this point.

Well, at the risk of just that, let's find ourselves a real long-shot that could win MVP this coming season shall we?

What We're Looking For

Never forget, team performance is a must. It's important to find someone that will not only be on a winner but likely be the most important player on that roster.

Voter fatigue is a major factor too, and it's the reason why you have so many different winners over the years, as opposed to just the best two or three players over a decade. So to find the right value here, we'd have to also take into account someone who hasn't had their "moment," if you will.

Also, just like before, we factor in age here too. Karl Malone is the oldest ever to win the award at 35, along with Michael Jordan. Steve Nash won his when he was 31 and 32, while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won his final MVP at 33 years old.

That matters, but it's not the most important factor, obviously.

Over at BetMGM, Donovan Mitchell and DeMar DeRozan are both +8000. Mitchell has no shot if he stays in Utah, but if the Knicks were to finally pull off this long-rumored trade and they exceed expectations, that's where Mitchell could earn the surprise win. We saw what the bright lights of Madison Square Garden did for Julius Randle winning Most Improved and Tom Thibodeau for Coach of the Year not too long ago, so there's some level of precedent there already.

DeRozan was in the conversation last year, but he fits more into the "we already know who he is" category, and the Bulls would have to come in with the best record in the NBA for him to get this win.

Now again, it'll be easy to poke holes in all of these names, given what their odds are right now, but we still have to look at what perfect situation could make this come to fruition. Think crazy alternate reality that has the slightest chance of coming true.

There's a ton of others sitting at +10000, including LaMelo Ball, Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving, Pascal Siakam, and James Harden, with Bradley Beal, Dejounte Murray at +12500, and Jaylen Brown, Jamal Murray, Brandon Ingram, De'Aaron Fox, and Zach LaVine at +15000.

A majority of them are either on teams that won't win enough games, or aren't likely to be the best player, so it's hard really like any of their chances.

Who Makes The Cut

Plenty of great players are on that list, but when you're talking MVP, it's a whole new level.

That's why we have to play essentially an extreme version of the "what if" game and project what extreme results could bring that huge return. Given that, I'll lean towards Donovan Mitchell here as the best deep sleeper, with the anticipating that he of course will eventually get traded to New York.

We saw just two years ago what happens when the Knicks overachieve, and he could be the next in line to benefit from what an electric Garden brings to the table for your image. He'd be the best player on an overachieving Knicks team, who's also young but established as a star already.

Is this likely to happen? No. But that's why he's a deep sleeper pick right?

Then again, it's sports and they're weird, so sometimes the unexpected becomes reality.