Warriors' Chris Paul makes his pick for NBA's Most Improved Player

With a little over a month left in the regular season, Sixers All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey (-600) remains the odds-on favorite to win the NBA's Most Improved Player Award. However, Warriors star Chris Paul doesn't consider Maxey the outright frontrunner.

After Golden State's 125-122 loss to Chicago Thursday night, Paul told The Athletic that Bulls guard Coby White — who's averaging career-highs in points (19.7), assists (5.3) and rebounds (4.8) — has a more rightful claim to the award. 

"He better get it," Paul said of White, who attended his AAU camp in North Carolina and has been his mentee for years. "...He's not just doing it every now and again. He's doing it night in and night out. And that's when you earn that respect around the league."

A year after starting only two games, White was entrusted as Bulls' starting point guard by coach Billy Donovan — a decision that paid dividends, with White doubling his per-game points tally. 

"His ballhandling got a lot better [from last year]," Paul said of the 24-year-old guard. "And you can just see — and we talk about it all the time — with the work, confidence comes. And for me, I'm somewhat of a big brother to a lot of them because I've known them [AAU students] so long."

Both Maxey and White make compelling cases for the award. Maxey, too, is averaging career-highs in points (26), assists (6.3) and rebounds (3.7), excelling in his role as the lead guard for the Sixers. While some argue that Maxey's annual jump from 20.3 to 26 points per game was forecasted following the departure of James Harden, the 23-year-old has been a revelation for Philadelphia even in the absence of Joel Embiid. Since the superstar big man was injured, Maxey has kept the Sixers afloat as the seventh seed in the East, just two games behind the fourth-seeded Knicks.  

Other candidates for the MIP award include Thunder wing Jalen Williams, Rockets center Alperen Sengun, Warriors' Jonathan Kuminga and third-year Hawks forward Jalen Johnson.