We won’t waste a lot of digital ink charting out the Byzantine complexity involved in trying to quantify a given player’s value to his team, or revisiting the old familiar arguments about which major factors should weigh more heavily than others when it comes to awarding the league’s most prestigious individual accolade, i.e. the NBA MVP trophy. It’s well-trodden territory. Suffice it to say that a number of criteria come into play, such as available statistical data (both basic and advanced), team success, recent play, strength of schedule, that rather nebulous quality we like to call “leadership,” clutch play, defense, hustle, overall basketball IQ, championship contender status, toughness, entertainment factor/GIFability, a healthy amount of subjectivity and/or confirmation bias on our part, “what have you done for me lately,” and much, much more.
So, here are our top three MVP candidates through Feb. 21. We’ve whittled the list to the top five so that we’re only discussing the very cream of the crop and because this is a bi-monthly column, so that we can focus more narrowly on what’s happened in just the past two weeks. We’ll still briefly discuss a handful of other players who just missed the cut, but deserve a shout-out nonetheless.
1. Steph Curry
Before their stunning blowout loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, the Golden State Warriors had won 11-straight going into the All-Star break. In February, the reigning MVP has averaged 33.8 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and two steals on 52.5 percent from the field and 49.2 percent from behind-the-arc, the best month of his already stellar season so far. Curry wasn’t able to bring home the Three-Point Shootout title over All-Star weekend (he’s an explicable 1-5 in the event overall and claims he’s done with it). That belonged to teammate Klay Thompson, but Curry maintains his grip on the MVP award like the face-huggers from the Alien franchise.
2. LeBron James
Cleveland has won five in a row and eight out of their last ten, and perennial MVP candidate (and four-time winner) LeBron James is the engine that keeps a souped-up Cavs team tear-assing down the season’s home stretch. In the month of February, he’s averaging 25.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 8.1 assists, although his three-point shooting continues to be a sore spot (just 24.2 percent this month). However, he’s been a bit more efficient during the Cavs’ recent win streak, going 8-of-20 (40 percent) from long-range during that period. He capped off the week with a decisive 115-92 win over the Thunder in Oklahoma City on Sunday, tallying 25 points, 11 assists, and seven rebounds.
3. Kevin Durant
It’s impossible to have an MVP discussion these days without mentioning OKC’s dynamic duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. The Thunder have won seven out of their last ten and are securely in the third seed in the Western Conference. In seven games in February, Durant has averaged 31 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 4.1 assists on better than 50 percent shooting from the field and 40.3 percent from long distance.
4. Russell Westbrook
He’s long since stepped out of Durant’s shadow, and the way these two have been able to co-exist so seamlessly while playing at the top of their respective games is nothing short of remarkable. Westbrook has very nearly averaged a triple double for the month of February: 23.3 points, 12 assists, and 9.1 rebounds. Like LeBron, he struggles from the three-point line, but he leads the league in steals (2.3 per game), he’s second in assists (10.2), third in assist ratio (46.6 percent), second in PIE (19.4) behind Curry, and eighth in the league in scoring with 24 points per game.
5. Chris Paul
With all the upheaval in Los Angeles, it’s been Chris Paul’s steady hand that’s navigated the ship through treacherous waters. The Clippers are 19-6 in Blake Griffin’s absence, a development that — if you believe the breathless rumors — very nearly resulted in Griffin being sent sailing prior to Thursday’s deadline. Critics point to a relatively breezy schedule that’s been conducive to L.A.’s winning ways, but in their first game following the All-Star break, they were able to upend the San Antonio Spurs behind CP3’s 28 points and 12 assists. They followed that up with a narrow three-point loss to the Warriors Saturday night, although Paul put up an equally impressive 24 points, seven rebounds, and six assists.
Notables
Kawhi Leonard has missed all three of the Spurs’ games since the All-Star break with a sore calf. Otherwise, he’d be right there in the mix with the top five as his team has won eight out of their last ten, despite losses to both the Cavs and the Clippers during that stretch.
The Boston Celtics’ surprising climb to the third seed in the Eastern Conference Standings makes it difficult to keep first-time All-Star Isaiah Thomas out of the conversation. On a team that boasts no superstars, the 5’9 point guard is the closest thing they’ve got, and his ability to put up points in bunches despite his stature is truly astounding.
Likewise, the East’s second-best team, the Toronto Raptors, never would’ve made it this far without their prized point guard and two-time All-Star Kyle Lowry. After a red-hot start to 2016 that included an 11-game win streak, the Raptors have come back down to Earth here in February where they’ve lost three out of their last seven.
The Golden State Warriors have lost a total of five games this season, none more decisively than the 32-point rout they suffered at the hands of the Trail Blazers Friday night. Damian Lillard played like a man possessed, notching a career-high 51 points in a huge statement game following his All-Star snub. No other player in the NBA has played better against Curry and the Warriors this season, and though he barely even qualifies as a long-shot at this point, that fact alone gets him some attention here. The Blazers weren’t supposed to be good this season. It was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but Lillard has his scrappy team of underdogs — who have won nine out of their last 10 — in prime position to secure a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
