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Mavs Shrinking Chances To Make Playoffs?

The good news is... The odds are still really, really good that the Mavs will make the playoffs.

DALLAS - Maybe the Dallas Mavericks' preseason hype was high but the latest future probabilities for the team and star Luka Doncic have shriveled a bit. The good news is... the odds are still really, really good that the Mavs will make the NBA playoffs and Doncic is in the running as league Most Valuable Player. 

The preseason favorite in NBA MVP odds, Doncic, has slipped to fourth on the oddsboard at +1200 at SportsBetting.com, although he is still posting all-star numbers.

The new MVP favorite? It's not Lebron James, who hasn’t won an MVP award since 2013 with the Miami Heat. 

Joel Embiid is the new favorite to win the NBA MVP for the 2020-21 season, after a stellar run in the first half of the season; averaging 30 points and 11 rebounds while shooting a career-high of 52-percent from the field and 41-percent from three.

Doncic is behind Embiid, James and Nikola Jokic. 

The Mavericks odds to make the NBA playoffs also slipped compared to their preseason probabilities.

As it stands, the Mavs chances to make the postseason are Yes -345, No +275. This implies a 77.5 percent chance that Dallas will make the playoffs, a number that has dropped since starting the season with a 87.7 percent chance. 

The Mavs have bounced back from their slow start to regain a winning 18-16 record. Dallas has won nine of their last 11 games with much thanks to Doncic's 28.6 points per game, 8.4 rebounds and nine assists per game. Not to mention the 22-year-old's team-record streak of 14 straight 25-point games. "Transcendent'' is one of the words Dallas coach Rick Carlisle has used to describe Doncic.

[READ: Second All-Star Outing "A Pleasure" For Mavs Luka Doncic]

What do Luka and Tom Brady have in common?

In the Western Conference standings, Dallas currently sits at 8th, which would put them in contention of the play-in tournament between teams seeded 7th-10th for the final two playoff spots. 

Little rest for Dallas in the second-half of the 2020-21 NBA season... The Mavs 38 games in 68 days are tied for the second-most in the league and include 10 back-to-backs. It starts Wednesday vs. the San Antonio Spurs with three games in four days coming out of the break.  

[CONTINUE READING: Mavs Second-Half Schedule: 10 Things To Know]