3 key reasons why Ja Morant could win MVP this season

Key reasons why Ja Morant could win MVP this season: 1. Injury to others

If we’re looking at the real reason Morant is in with a chance at this stage of the year, then the answer is surely injuries The frontrunner for the award, Kevin Durant, recently sprained his MCL and will be missing for at least six weeks. That likely sidelines him a bit too long to justify giving him the award.

Never doubt Durant though, who like Morant, had the narrative and the opposite of voter’s fatigue going for him. As much as it annoys some people that he is part of a superteam with the Nets, they have been anything but. The woes of Kyrie Irving’s inability to get on the court have been widely reported, and James Harden is only now looking kind of like the player he once was.

With Durant having missed so much time through injury, fans were just delighted to have him back. It didn’t hurt that he was averaging a league-leading 29.3 points per contest as well, to go with the many other statistical wonders he was producing on a nightly basis. But with Durant gone, for now, somebody else has to step up.

Could that person be Morant? As already mentioned, he has had his own injury woes, but they look to be behind him and the Grizzlies have gone to another level since his return. They rank in the top 10 in both offensive (111.7, 7th) and defensive (108, 10th) efficiency, a great indicator that an organization is capable of going far in the playoffs.

Durant had played in 36 games before going down. To this point, Morant has played 33. He will soon overtake Durant, to the point that, no matter what, he will have played more games than Durant by year’s end. Couple that with home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs as the most talked about team in the NBA, and why couldn’t Ja Morant be named MVP?