Every year, no matter who is playing well or what teams seem to be dominating the NBA, there is always debate over who should win the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for the league.
In recent years, the same names have come up in the discussion: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade. With the exception of Wade, who has been plagued with injuries and an underachieving Miami Heat team, Bryant and James are at the forefront of the discussion once again. However, the award is given (or should be given) to the league's most valuable player — that is, the player whose value to his team is the most significant.
Bryant's Lakers are 46−15, one game behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the best record in the NBA, but Bryant's supporting cast has proven to be better than most. When Bryant was sidelined on Feb. 6 with a fractured finger that hadbeen bothering him all season, the Lakers went up to Portland and thrashed the Blazers — the one team that has inexplicably given them more trouble than any other over the past few seasons — 99−82.
Bryant missed five games, and in that span, the Lakers went 5−1, with their only loss coming in a one−point game to a hungry Boston Celtics team. In that span, the Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs and the Utah Jazz, two Western Conference playoff−caliber teams. Behind the play of All−Star forward Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Ron Artest and Derek Fisher, the Lakers put out a strong team every night, even without Bryant.
But while Bryant is considered by many to be the best player in the world, he is not the most valuable to his team.
This year, the MVP race should be between two players: James and Kevin Durant. Without James, the Cavs' roster is essentially a team filled with role players. Mo Williams and Delonte West are strong guards, averaging 16.1 and 7.9 points per game, respectively, but neither would be the go−to option on any NBA team. A 38−year−old Shaquille O'Neal, who is now out indefinitely with a badly sprained thumb, cannot carry a team on his back like he could five years ago, and without James, a starting lineup of Williams, West, J.J. Hickson, Antawn Jamison and Anderson Varejao appears average at best on paper.
James seems to be on his way toward another MVP season, averaging 29.9 points, 7.1 rebounds and a career best 8.5 assists per game. Aside from the jaw−dropping highlights he consistently provides every night, his value to the Cavaliers is higher than Bryant's to the Lakers, and he makes the players around him better.
Durant, a budding young talent who has been on the brink of a breakthrough season, has finally reached superstardom for Oklahoma City. Durant is averaging 29.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, but the value to his team is on par with James' for the Cavaliers. Four of the Thunder's five starters are 23 years old or younger — Durant (21), Jeff Green (23), Russell Westbrook (21) and James Harden (20) — and the team is still 36−23 and currently ranks sixth in the highly competitive Western Conference.
Westbrook is quietly having a monster sophomore season, averaging 16.7 points, 7.9 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game from the point guard position, and a lot of that has to do with the outstanding play of Durant. At 6−foot−9, the lanky Durant has one of the best shooting strokes in the NBA, and he can shoot over any defender in the league. He is shooting 38.2 percent from 3−point range and 47.9 percent from the field and is a threat to score from anywhere on the court.
Without Durant, one of the league's most prolific scorers, the Thunder would most likely be having a season like recent ones, ending with less than 25 wins and a lottery pick in the draft. With him, however, the team is surging through the Western Conference with a starting lineup of players who, had they not left college early, would still be in school.
Durant's streak of 27 straight games with 25 points or more, which finally came to an end on Feb. 25, is the longest recorded since Michael Jordan's 40 straight in the 1986−87 season. Durant's play has lifted his team from the rebuilding stage to title contender in just one season, which makes him the most valuable asset to his team and among the most valuable in the league. In line for a scoring title in just his third NBA season, Durant promises to be an MVP candidate for many years to come, but he should also be in the discussion this season.
Unfortunately for the players in the LeBron/Kobe era of the NBA, it will be extremely difficult to steal the award from two players whose teams hold the best records in the league.
