We've reached the midpoint of an NBA season that has been filled with surprises — Detroit and Boston lead the East, San Antonio is second in the West — and also far too many injuries to stars. It's also given us jaw-dropping moments, and not just the ones Victor Wembanyama seems to deliver us on a nightly basis.

The midpoint also means it's time to take stock of the NBA postseason awards. All week long, I will make my picks for some of the NBA's top awards at this point in the season, plus get betting angles from NBC Sports experts. Today: MVP.

2. Nikola Jokic
3. Luka Doncic
4. Jalen Brown
5. Giannis Antetokounmpo

Note: I have excluded from my list only players who have already missed more than 17 games and will not reach the league's (unnecessary) 65-game threshold to qualify for the award. While multiple players on this list ultimately may not qualify, we're not trying to predict the future here.

This is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's race to lose.

As it was a year ago, this was really a two-man race between SGA and Nikola Jokic, but Jokic's injury not only puts him behind now, it basically dooms his case as long as Gilgeous-Alexander stays healthy — at the end of the season, if Jokic has played 66 games and Gilgeous-Alexander 76, voters will factor that in.

Not to take anything away from SGA, who has more than earned a repeat MVP win, averaging 31.8 points, 6.2 assists and four rebounds a game, shooting 39.6% from 3 and being a quality defender on the other end of the court. He is again a team that is on pace for about the 68 wins it had a season ago. Gilgeous-Alexander may have won this award even if Jokic had been healthy.

The rest of this list will look different at the end of the season because there is a real chance Jokic (who has to return from his knee injury by Jan. 30, then not miss any more games) and Antetokounmpo (can only miss three more games this season) could well fall short of the league's 65-game cutoff. Also on the bubble of making the cutoff is Wembanyama, who can only miss three more games this season and was sixth on my list. This could open up spots for Donovan Mitchell and Tyrese Maxey, who were in serious consideration for the top five as well.

Doncic deserves his No. 3 seed because of the make-Mavs-fans-cry stats he is putting up, including leading the league at 33.3 points per game. He is the driving force of a top-10 offense, and the Lakers are top-six in the West because of him.

Jalen Brown has been the driving force in Boston and, by the end of the season, could be higher on this list, but he more than deserves his spot. Antetokounmpo has put up statistics this season that are in line with the top three here, but the struggles of the Bucks knock him down a peg.

We reached out to the NBC Sports betting experts for their thoughts on the MVP race and how they might bet it.

Barring a miraculous 65-game qualification by Nikola Jokic, this should essentially be a bet on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander staying healthy. The Thunder are pacing for 68 wins and Shai's stats - basic and advanced - are otherworldly as usual. Even if Jokic were to improbably squeak across the qualification threshold, Shai is still the likely favorite given games played matter in an award about "value", and Jokic will have missed a month of the season.