2022 NBA Awards Watch: The official halfway-point ballot

2022 NBA Awards Watch: MVP – Nikola Jokic

Honorable Mentions: LeBron James, Stephen Curry

Simply put, Nikola Jokic is a wizard. He is having a better season than the one he had last year, averaging 25.3 points, 13.9 rebounds (second in the league, career-high), 7.2 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.

He is posting a career-high effective field goal percentage (60.9 percent) and has improved noticeably as a defender. The MVP is rarely awarded to a team outside of the top seeds, but dragging a Denver Nuggets team with consistent $34 million in combined holes in the starting lineup should shake that narrative.

Stephen Curry currently holds a thin margin over the rest of an increasingly deep group of MVP candidates. So far, Curry is averaging 26.3 points, 6.0 assists, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game on shooting splits of .421/.384/.914.

Helping lead the Golden State Warriors into the consistently flipping race for the top seed in the league with the Phoenix Suns, Curry was off to arguably the best start of his career before the slight slump that started around the time he passed Ray Allen for most three-point makes of all time. This slump has opened the door for the reigning MVP to enter the conversation in earnest.

Picking between Joel Embiid, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and DeMar DeRozan changes by the day. It truly is that close.

For the halfway point, the selection here is LeBron James. It is not too harsh to say that the Los Angeles Lakers roster has completely disappointed, but James has been exceptional.

He is averaging 28.9 points per game, his highest since his final season in Cleveland (the first time around). He is averaging a career-high 1.2 blocks per game, too.