NBA MVP Race Player Rankings: It’s Damian Lillard Time for the Blazers

Jan 28, 2021; Houston, Texas, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) reacts after a play during the fourth quarter against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 28, 2021; Houston, Texas, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) reacts after a play during the fourth quarter against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
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NBA Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Another week has passed in the NBA and COVID remains a concern, but the freezing cold weather in the southern United States has joined it as a complicating factor in games going on. The state of Texas has been particularly hit hard with millions without power and postponing a Dallas Mavericks game or two seems like the smallest of concerns.

Indeed, the Mavs game on Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons has been postponed, although the Pistons replaced it with a game against the Chicago Bulls. In addition, the San Antonio Spurs are battling a COVID outbreak of their own, leaving Texas as the center of all the commotion right now.

NBA MVP Race Player Rankings: Week 7

Let’s get started on this week’s NBA MVP Race Player Rankings. First, our ground rules as laid out way back in Week 1:

"This won’t be an exact science as we’re not going to be plugging everybody’s BPM, RPM and PIPM into a calculator and dividing by 36 minutes. It’s going to use healthy amounts of recency bias, popular narrative, team success (or lack thereof) and whatever other elements I choose to incorporate at a given time. It could be messy, chaotic and a bit unpredictable, and it’s certainly going to get flipped on its head every week."

We have fewer snubs than usual this week, largely because our top 10 has firmly coalesced and there just aren’t many players with legitimate arguments to get into that mix. Whether it be their team’s poor record, missed games due to postponements, injuries, or health and safety protocols, a number of players just don’t seem to have the argument to get into the mix.

The main player who had a true case for MVP earlier in the season but has been taken out of the top 10 is Kevin Durant. He has played one game in the last 12 days, and as our rankings take shape, availability remains one of the biggest keys to staying in the mix. Durant will have the opportunity to work his way back in, but we’re not there yet.

With our solitary snub out of the way, let’s jump right into our top 10.