NBA MVP Race: 3 keys to James Harden’s MVP case
By Duncan Smith
Key No. 1 to James Harden’s candidacy in the NBA MVP race: Winning
You can’t win MVP without winning games, and a lot of them. In his Brooklyn Nets tenure, James Harden has won a lot of games.
Since coming to Brooklyn, the Nets are tied with the Utah Jazz for the most wins in the league with 22 and have just one more loss with eight. They may have the sixth-worst defense in the NBA over that span, but their league-leading offensive rating of 119.5 is so explosive that they still have the league’s seventh-best offense.
The Nets have climbed all the way to second in the Eastern Conference with their 29-14 record, just a game behind the 30-13 Philadelphia 76ers.
With very few exceptions in the history of the NBA, winners of its most prestigious award have come from the top few seeds in either conference. Thanks to injuries to James and Embiid, the best players on the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sixers, the rest of the field may end up surging past them in the MVP pecking order.
In the case of James Harden, who is the lead dog on his Brooklyn Nets these days, it’s very possible that he’s going to end up winning the most games of all. Considering his ridiculous statistical production (25.4 points, 11.3 assists, 8.8 rebounds, .477/.373/.861 splits), he’s become an undeniable candidate once again.