A year ago at this time, there were plenty of people across the NBA who thought that Zion Williamson might never play basketball for the New Orleans Pelicans again. Williamson did not play a single game last season as he had foot surgery during the offseason and rehab did not progress as well as he had hoped. There were questions about his weight and his motivation level.

Fast forward to now, and those discussions and questions seem ridiculous in hindsight. He signed an extension, slimmed down and entered the season with something to prove. Williamson is the leading scorer for a Pelicans team that currently has the best record in the Western Conference. As a result, Zion's MVP odds are surging and that has put a scare into sportsbooks.

Zion's MVP odds are on the move

The Pelicans showed commitment to Williamson this past offseason when they gave him a 5-year extension despite all the uncertainty. The potential was obviously there. He dominated at Duke, was drafted first overall and showed flashes in his first two years in the league.

Still, Williamson opened as a 66-to-1 long shot to win NBA MVP. As recently as two weeks ago, Zion was 125-to-1 to win the award; he wasn't even on the radar. Things have changed.

Williamson just won Western Conference Player of the Week honors. He's had seven straight games with at least 25 points, including four 30+ point games over that stretch. He's had three double-doubles since November 30th. He's averaging 25 points, over 7 rebounds and over 4 assists per game for the season.

Most importantly, Williamson is the leading scorer on one of the best teams in the league. Brandon Ingram hasn't played in three weeks, but that hasn't been an issue. New Orleans just had a seven game winning streak that was fueled by Zion dominating games. New Orleans is 18-9 on the season. That's tied with Memphis for the best record in the West and the third best record in the NBA behind only Boston and Milwaukee.

When you combine the team's success with Zion's recent performance, it's no surprise that his MVP odds are surging. Currently, Williamson is down to 20-to-1 to win MVP. Only five players have better odds: Jayson Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid and Steph Curry. Not bad company to keep.

Zion is a popular bet

While NBA fans might be excited to see Zion developing into an MVP candidate before our eyes, sportsbooks are probably a little less excited.

At BetMGM, Williamson is the fourth most popular bet to win NBA MVP behind Doncic, Devin Booker (30-to-1) and Ja Morant (30-to-1). When you consider that very recently, Williamson had odds as high as 125-to-1 to win it all, that poses a major liability for oddsmakers. Overall, nearly 10% of all MVP bets are backing Williamson to win the award. A lot of those bets came at extreme odds.

Williamson is the biggest liability in the NBA MVP market for BetMGM. That means of any player in the league to win the award, Zion would cost them the most money. Zion's recent performance has probably caused some nervousness in those circles.

Current NBA MVP odds

With about a third of the season in the books, it's a good time to take a look at the current betting odds for NBA MVP at BetMGM:

• Jayson Tatum (+250)

• Giannis Antetokounmpo (+300)

• Luka Doncic (+350)

• Joel Embiid (11-to-1)

• Steph Curry (13-to-1)

• Zion Williamson (20-to-1)

• Nikola Jokic (22-to-1)

• Ja Morant (30-to-1)

• Devin Booker (30-to-1)

• Donovan Mitchell (30-to-1)

• Kevin Durant (33-to-1)

• Anthony Davis (33-to-1)