Bodog Beat

Kobe Bryant, winner of this year's NBA MVP award. (AP Images)

Does it not seem strange that Kobe Bryant has never won a NBA MVP award?

If it did, it won't anymore. Following up on reports in the Los Angeles Times that indicated he won the award, the NBA announced that a tuesday press conference will be held at a Los Angeles hotel, presumably to announce that KB is MVP.

Bryant, who entered the season as the league's two-time defending scoring champion, had finished as high as third in the MVP voting twice — after the 2002-03 campaign, when he averaged 30 points for the first time, and again last year, when Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki won the award and two-time MVP Steve Nash finished second. This year, Bryant averaged 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.84 steals while playing in all 82 games despite tearing a ligament in his right pinkie finger in February.

On Wednesday night, the Lakers host the Jazz in Los Angeles, where a raucous Staples Center crowd will get to celebrate their newly-crowned MVP. Bet on the game in the Bodog Sportsbook!

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