The race for MVP has become clear. Stephen Curry is the popular pick for the streaking Warriors. James Harden has a slightly better case; while he's not nearly as fun to watch because of his constant parade to the free throw line, he's doing more with less. Anthony Davis is still making waves with voters that reject the notion than an MVP has to be on a winning team.
Russell Westbrook should be in the MVP discussion
Yes, he’s missed games. Yes, he’s played with Kevin Durant. But the Oklahoma City Thunder guard is doing enough to at least earn consideration for the NBA’s biggest individual award.
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But there's a fourth player trying to earn a late nomination: Russell Westbrook. He missed 14 games to start the season and seems hellbent to make up for every second of lost time, even as his co-star Kevin Durant has been in and out of the lineup due to injury. On Sunday, Westbrook was again without Durant and again put up a monster line with 21 points, 17 assists and eight rebounds in a 119-94 win against Denver.
He established himself early, darting into the lane with impunity to finish around much larger men. Once the Nuggets were thoroughly scared of his scoring ability, he sat back and picked them apart with the pass. He had 10 assists in the second quarter alone. It was a clinic for proper pick-and-roll offense and Westbrook had the Denver defense imploding all night.
The Nuggets had no one capable of guarding Serge Ibaka, the recipient of seven of Westbrook's assists. Perhaps Westbrook's prettiest pass all night was his last one, a transition bounce pass to Ibaka that the Nuggets probably saw coming but could do nothing to stop.
Westbrook’s been playing like this much longer than just Sunday, though. Durant is the reigning MVP and is scoring 25 points a game when he plays, but Westbrook has been even better. On a per game basis, he’s second in the league in points and steals, fifth in assists and leads all guards in rebounding.
When Durant's out, he somehow gets even better. If you exclude the second game of the season, where Westbrook was injured, the Thunder are 9-5 when he plays and Durant sits. His incredible stats somehow get even more impressive.
The Western Conference isn’t set up for teams to make the playoffs after starting 3-12, but Russell Westbrook is single-handedly breaking the system, leading the Thunder to the No. 8 seed and beyond. Suddenly, San Antonio has to be getting nervous -- Oklahoma City only trails them by 3.5 games now.
Missing 14 games sets a very difficult threshold for Westbrook to actually earn the award. If he doesn’t miss another game, he’ll finish the season with 68 games played. Since 1978, every MVP has played 71 games or more. Most miss no more than three games.
Still, Westbrook is making his case as emphatically as possible. Welcome to Loud City recently argued that even his missed games can’t drown out the insane statistical performances.
Should he manage to use this as a taking-off point, keep up this pace while his reigning MVP teammate heals, AND keep vaulting the Thunder up the standings? Well, then, Westbrook shouldn’t just be in the MVP conversation at the end of the year. He should be the MVP.
The Thunder have been missing an MVP for most of the season, but in Westbrook, maybe they gained another one.
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