Blake Griffin is third favorite to win MVP, according to betting website

Clippers’ superstar power forward Blake Griffin is the third favorite to win the Most Valuable Player award this season, according to betting website Bovada.

Griffin has 12 to 1 odds to win the honor, trailing only LeBron James (5/6) and an injured Kevin Durant (4/1).

Griffin, who has already established himself as one of the top players in the league, has noticibly improved over the off-season. He spent a lot of time working with his shooting coach on bettering his outside jumper. Adding that range to his already extremely strong arsenal of inside post-up moves has already proven to be an extremely hard-to-stop combination for defenders.

Griffin opened the preseason strong, scoring 24 points on nine-for-17 shooting and grabbing 12 rebounds in the Clippers’ 112-94 loss to the Golden State Warriors. In the first quarter of that game, he had 14 points on six-for-eight shooting, dazzling the home crowd with an array of outside jumpers, including a three-pointer.

In the team’s second game against Portland, a 119-114 loss, Griffin didn’t exactly have a stellar performance, finishing with only nine points and two rebounds. But in the Clippers’ third exhibition against Utah, he once again showed what he can do, finishing with a game-high 31 points on 14-for-22 shooting as the Clippers fell to Utah, 102-89.

Clippers Coach Doc Rivers also said that he thinks Griffin improved defensively over the summer.

“I think Blake can be an all-defensive team player and I really believe that, so we’re going to ask him to do that this year,” Rivers said after the Clippers played Golden State.

With Griffin’s improved outside shooting and his great potential to be a good defender, he could be a top contender for the league’s most conveted individual award this season.