NBA MVP Race Player Rankings: LeBron James rising in the ranks

Since last rank: 32.3 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 6.7 APG, 1.7 SPG, 1.0 BPG

Shooting splits: .567/.565/.667

Some weeks LeBron James is content to cruise along as one of the top 5-to-10 players in the NBA, and some weeks he decides he’s going to play like the MVP and the best player in the world. This was one of those MVP-level weeks for the Los Angeles Lakers, and it cumulated with a ridiculous 46-point game in a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He shot 19-of-26 from the floor against the Cavs, including 7-of-11 from 3-point range, and now suddenly LeBron is a 41.2 percent 3-point shooter on the season. Whether he wants to beat you leading the NBA in assists (like last year) or do so by becoming one of the league’s best high-volume 3-point shooters, he’s going to do it whichever way he feels like and there isn’t a thing you can do about it.

Since last rank: 37.7 PPG, 11.7 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.0 SPG, 1.0 BPG

Shooting splits: .611/.444/.811

Joel Embiid has been nothing short of stupendous for the Philadelphia 76ers. Not only is he putting up ungodly offensive and defensive numbers, but the Sixers are absolutely dominant when he plays and just awful when he doesn’t.

The Sixers are 12-2 when he plays and 0-4 in games when he doesn’t, including a 119-104 blowout loss at the hands of the league-worst Detroit Pistons on Monday night. Not only that, they have a +11.5 net rating when he’s on the court and are -5.9 when he’s off the floor, yielding an incredible swing of 17.5 points. His missed games might be a mark against him this season, but let’s face it, by the time all is said and done just about everybody is likely to miss games in 2020-21.

At this point, we can look no further than Joel Embiid for the No. 1 spot on these rankings.